The mother of the teenager severely injured in an accident on the riverbank at Lorn 10 days ago is battling
financial hardship to maintain a vigil by his bedside in Royal North Shore Hospital’s intensive care unit in Sydney.
Dianne Conroy is unable to work because of chronic arthritis. She survives on an invalid pension and lives in a modest rented house in East Maitland that she shares with her only child, 18-year-old Mitchell.
Social workers have arranged emergency accommodation at a hostel near the hospital for her, but the cost of staying in Sydney, together with maintaining her home in Maitland, is beyond Ms Conroy’s means.
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Mitchell Thomas is in intensive care in RNS’s spinal unit.
He was airlifted to the hospital with severe damage to his C4 vertebrae and has undergone surgery to remove shattered bone fragments from his back.
He has bleeding on the brain, which is being monitored, and is now suffering further complications including a lung infection from bacteria in the river’s water.
On Friday, he underwent a tracheotomy to help him breath. He remains heavily sedated, and has only managed to mouth a few words since the accident.
Mitchell’s long-term prognosis is unknown.
C4 injuries are among the worst that can be sustained and doctors have warned Ms Conroy that it could be up to a year before he will be able to return home to Maitland.
Ms Conroy is too distraught to be interviewed by the Mercury but has requested her friend and neighbour, Jane Jacka, to speak on her behalf.
She asked that her favourite photograph of Mitchell, taken in 2007 in his Maitland High School uniform, be given to the Mercury.
Ms Jacka said Ms Conroy was clinging to the hope she would be able to bring Mitchell back home to Maitland and until that day she wanted to remain close to him in Sydney.
“Dianne means the world to Mitchell and Mitchell is Dianne’s world,” Ms Jacka said. “They were devoted to each other; she made certain he never went without anything and he was her man about the house.
“Dianne has said she will do whatever it takes to be with Mitchell, even if that means sleeping on the floor in the hospital waiting room.”
“The problem is that her chronic arthritis and other health problems mean that she too must have proper
rest.
“The hostel is supposed to be within walking distance of the hospital but with her arthritis it’s a battle. And all the while she’s in Sydney she still has to pay rent and other expenses on her home in East Maitland where she’s lived for 12 years.”
Ms Jacka said Mitchell was a “lovely kid” who was always pleasant and polite.
He listened to his music and he and his mum watched movies together.
“I would often hear them laughing together,” Ms Jacka said.
After Mitchell left school he attended Metford TAFE. At the time of the accident he was his mother’s carer but he hoped to secure a welding apprenticeship this year.
Ms Jacka said Ms Conroy and Mitchell were kind people and caring neighbours who would never put out their hand for help.
Ms Conroy also looks after her elderly mother.
The exact details of what happened last Friday week – Friday the 13th – are not known other than that Mitchell and some close friends went to the river at Lorn for a
swim. It is believed that Mitchell may have swung out over the river on a rope, jumped off, and was on his way up to the surface when his friend landed on top of him. The boys collided, with Mitchell taking the full force of the blow.
The onset of paraplegia was diagnosed by paramedics at the scene.
Mitchell Thomas and his mum Dianne Conroy need our help.
The Maitland Mercury has launched an appeal today to help Ms Conroy remain in Sydney close to Mitchell where he continues his fight for life.
Donations can be made at the Maitland Mercury, 258 High Street, Maitland or at The Maitland Mutual Building Society, 417 High Street, Maitland – the BSB is 646000 and the account number is 100040544. Cheques should be made payable to the Maitland Mercury Pitch In For
Mitch Appeal.
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