Glen's story

Glen Bennett: So the morning of the accident, got up, went into Eagle Farm to the yard and got my truck, fuelled it up and hooked up to my trailers and, and took off, heading to Cairns.

Yeah, I got 60k roughly north of Gin Gin. And, I came around a bend and, I, I just saw this real dense looking fog.

I didn't know what it was, if it was fog or smoke. And uh, it all happened pretty quick, within a few seconds, there was just these trailer back doors just right there and I didn't know if I'd caught up to a truck going slow.

I didn't know what, what it was. And then just all of a sudden, bang, I got knocked out and then I woke up and when I woke up, the inside of the truck, including myself, was all on fire. So I jiggled myself around and managed to jiggle myself a bit over the, over the window until gravity took over and then I fell out.

And, I rolled a couple of times because I, I knew I was on fire. When I did my first roll this left arm actually bent backwards and I knew that there was something wrong with that and um, I just laid there.

So I don't know how long I was lying on the road for, but it would've been a while. It would've been probably a good hour. And then, yeah, I got in the ambulance and asked the lady for her phone to ring my wife and I, I just, I wanted to say goodbye 'cause I thought that was it. I thought I was dead.

I broke my jaw in three places, broke my cheekbone, eight broken ribs, broke my elbow, broke my forearm, and broke my shoulder when I landed on the road. And then, yeah, 70 per cent burns.

Anita Bevis: When his claim first came in, and I saw all these injuries and speaking with his wife, Roni, in the early days, not knowing if he was going to make it. I still remember the first conversation I had with him once he was discharged from rehab and to see where he has gotten from there and from the beginning, it is just really great.

Glen Bennett: I always have set myself goals, which has really helped me to get through everything. And that just helps me mentally because I know I'm doing good, I'm getting better.

I always looked at it that the money that WorkCover was paying me, I was getting paid to get better. You know, I was getting paid to go to the gym and rehab and I was getting paid to go to the hospital and learn to walk. And that's how I've looked at it. It, that's my job at the moment.

I think it's the peace of mind of having that wage still coming in. We've got bills and we all know how tough it's getting at the moment, so I would've had to have sell up if I didn't have WorkCover.

Anita Bevis: WorkCover work really closely with NIISQ, so although Glen is with NIISQ and they're essentially funding his treatment, care and support, I'm in contact with his support planner there. I'm always across what's happening.

His support planner from NIISQ and I went out recently to see him at the hospital to see him walk on his prosthetics. And so we're really working closely alongside them.

Glen Bennett: NIISQ helped fund the growth of the house. The house grew by about 70 square metres after my accident. They've funded my car to be decked out. They decked it out with the hand controls.

I've got a lot of support at home here. My wife and, and my little boy, Hugo, they're both been amazing. Anita, my WorkCover case manager has been unreal and, and helped me with a lot.

So between WorkCover and NIISQ, there's been so much help and so much support and yeah, it's having a really good support network that's really, that's really one of the biggest things I think.