Up next
Karla Sofía Gascón Net Worth
The lives of a Victorian family have been turned upside down after their loved one met with disaster during a routine motorcycle ride.
Fred McGuane, 55, suffered critical injuries when he crashed on Warragul-Korumbuura Road, south-east of Melbourne, about 9am on Saturday.
He was rushed to The Alfred hospital where he was placed in an induced coma.
The father-of-one underwent surgery to relieve swelling and bleeding on his brain and to treat fractures in his right arm.
He shattered ribs on both sides, which pierced his lungs and liver, with the impact of the crash causing his right lung to collapse.
His wife Kristy told Daily Mail Australia she was shocked her husband had crashed.
‘They think it might have been a pothole on the road, he’s a very experienced rider. He’s been riding motorbikes his whole life. From all accounts, his bones will heal, as will his punctured lung so the prognosis is positive,’ she said.
The big problem is how the ex-Navy machinist’s brain will recover.
Fred McGuane and wife Kristy are pictured with their young daughter Evelyn
‘We’re not 100 per cent sure, cognitively, what his situation is,’ Ms McGuane said.
‘It’s going to be a long wait. I check in each day and he’s making little improvements.’
She is working hard to keep life as normal as possible for the couple’s seven-year-old daughter Evelyn along with siblings Emily (27) and Jacob (35) but admitted it’s ‘very hard’.
‘She (Evelyn) doesn’t know the full extent of his injuries,’ Ms McGuane said.
‘She’s not sleeping well at the moment but we’re trying to keep her going to school and all her after school activities.
‘There’s lots of trips back and forth to the hospital which is over an hour away.’
Mr McGuane is booked in for additional surgery to repair his ribs as he remains in a critical but stable condition.
Doctors have told his family it would take him anywhere from a few months to more than a year to make a full recovery.
Fred’s daughter Evelyn (pictured) is doing it tough while her dad is in an induced coma
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help the McGuane family with bills, rent, and other financial burdens.
They’re hoping to raise $10,000 to get them through the next few months.
Motorcycles have a higher proportion of accidents, despite their smaller numbers.
In 2023, 254 people died in motorcycle-related road accidents in Australia, which was 20 per cent of the total road deaths.
The majority of motorcyclist deaths occurred in the 40 to 64 age group.
