Kyle Bridgwood Client Story - Bike Accident Claim

8 minute watch

Motor vehicle accident

Our client Kyle Bridgwood was 22 when he was hit by a car while cycling in Townsville. Learn how Shine Lawyers helped Kyle get his life back on track, all the way to the medal podium at the Paralympics.

What happened to Kyle

Kyle was a 22-year-old triathlete, out for a morning of cycling training on Queens Road in Townsville when he was hit by a car, suffering critical injuries. Kyle’s injuries included:

Severed patella tendon
Fractured kneecap
Spinal injuries
Neck injuries

In this third of our three-part series on protecting what matters, you’ll see why an experienced personal injury lawyer can help you, just like we helped Kyle on his para-cycling journey.

Hospital, rehabilitation and representing Australia

Kyle spent three weeks in hospital and six months in rehabilitation, working hard to recover from his serious injuries. His determination and tenacity saw him representing Australia at the 2012 Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Trials in California, only 12 months after his accident.

Kyle became internationally classified as a C4 para-athlete and represented Australia at the Para-Cycling World Championships and at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

How Shine Lawyers helped Kyle

Garreth Turner from Shine Lawyers’ Townsville branch knew Kyle before he was critically injured on the road. He’s never met a more driven and motivated bloke, starting from when he was in his hospital bed.

As well as looking after clients involved in cycling accidents, Garreth represents clients workplace personal injury claims, motor vehicle accident claims and public liability claims.

Garreth sees it as a true privilege to have represented Kyle, in helping him secure damages in his cycling accident claim for his injuries. This meant that Kyle could focus on healing, rehabilitation and getting back on his bike to represent Australia.

Watch as Garreth recalls Kyle’s story, and what it meant for him to represent Kyle in his journey from his hospital bed back to cycling for Australia.

Representing our client Kyle Bridgwood-client story-client story

Transcript

There's been so many so many people that we've looked after but one does stick in my mind, a gentleman by the name of Kyle Bridgewood. He was a client of mine. I still remember driving to work on the morning of his accident. I heard on the radio that a cyclist had been critically injured on Queens Road here in Townsville and I immediately thought, having been out that morning myself, of all the people that were on Queens Road. And I knew Kyle was out there doing time trial efforts. A few hours later the news was confirmed that it was in fact Kyle, and he had severe injuries - everything from spinal injuries, upper and lower limb injuries, and one of his patellas was torn from his leg.

I've never met a more driven and motivated bloke than Kyle. From the day he was in his hospital bed and couldn't even get out of bed, he was planning his comeback and how he was going to get back on his bike. Not only did he get back on his bike, Kyle went on to represent Australia at the Paralympics at Rio. He was a gold medalist and a World Champion in the time trial event a few years later. He's actually gone on to get a pilot's licence since then.

Just to be able to represent Kyle was truly a privilege. He was just such an amazing guy and to see all he went through, I never heard him complain once. And he was just always so happy and friendly, and it's so easy to not be that when times are bad. And it just reminded me, as a lawyer, you can really do things to change people's lives. And I think that what we did for Kyle and to get him damages allowed him to do things in life that he wouldn't have been able to do.

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