Brave nurse a rail hero after track fall

A student nurse has saved the life of a man who fell on to the tracks at a Brisbane train station just minutes before a train was due to arrive.

SIX months of nursing training paid off for Kay Seymour yesterday when she put her own life on the line to save a man who fell on to train tracks at Wooloowin station on Brisbane's northside.

The 56-year-old man had become disoriented as a result of seizures and stepped off the platform just before 8am, with the train due at 8.04am.

Ms Seymour, 42, said she heard someone yell out "He's on the tracks" and her nursing training just kicked in.

"I tried to get a verbal response from him at first, but when that didn't work I said to another lady 'I'm going to have to get on the tracks'," Ms Seymour said.

FIRST RESPONDER: Trainee nurse Kay Seymour rushed to the rescue after a -year-old man fell off the platform at Wooloowin. Picture: Glenn Barnes

"In my head I thought I've got at least six minutes. I knew I had time to get him off."

BRAVE RESCUE: Nurse jumps onto tracks to save man

As Ms Seymour spoke calmly to the man to get him to stand up, Queensland Rail customer service officer Jill Lyten took action to halt any approaching trains.

EMERGENCY: The man steps off the platform and falls onto the train tracks at Wooloowin station.

"I knew how dangerous it was on the tracks. I knew I just had to get the number and call control and stop the trains," said Ms Lyten, who was on her way into work in the city.

"I think everyone worked really, really well together."

After a tense couple of minutes, Ms Seymour was able to help the man off the tracks and on to the platform, where he was met by ambulance officers and taken to hospital for treatment.

EMERGENCY: The man is on hands and knees on the train tracks after falling.

She said it was fortunate her training at Southbank Institute of Technology had recently covered scenarios where people lose orientation and cognitive responses are tested.

"I kept asking him questions while getting him to lift both hands, and taking his pulse. His heart rate was up," Ms Seymour said.

"It's a matter of just constantly checking that cognitive response. I was surprised how the training just kicked in."

EMERGENCY: The student nurse and bystanders help the man off the train tracks.

Queensland Rail acting chief executive Jim Benstead said it could have been a very different outcome if the approaching train had come.

"It could've gone very differently today. It could've been disastrous," Mr Benstead said.

Although he praised Ms Seymour's bravery and selflessness, he said the "right thing to do" in such a situation would be to alert station staff or use the emergency button.

In the past year, Queensland Rail has recorded 400 "near-misses" with pedestrians at level crossings and on tracks.

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Brave Vida battles on

AS Vida Dziduch is wheeled to intensive care after a 20-hour marathon operation, the 14-month-old's left foot begins to move, ever so slightly.

"That's remarkable," Royal Children's Hospital neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner breathes.

It was a good sign after almost a third of Vida's brain - 60 per cent of its right hemisphere - was excised in an operation to save her vision and rid her of seizures that have blighted her short life.

Vida was born with the rare condition hemimegalencephaly, in which the brain is malformed in the womb. Half is abnormally larger, triggering uncontrollable seizures.

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Signs of it became evident when she was just six weeks old, in the form of twitches and clenches, which looked to parents Che Dziduch and Louisa Banner as though she was trying to sneeze.

Vida Dziduch was born with a rare brain condition. Picture: Jay Town Source: Herald Sun

At the urging of Ms Banner's grandmother, a former nurse, they took her to hospital. But after the rare diagnosis, they learned the surgery couldn't be done in their home state of Queensland.

Sydney was an option, but when the couple learned their doctor in Melbourne would be Ms Maixner, who led the separation of conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna, that settled things.

Typically, surgeons will address the condition by removing the problem area - in this case, the entire right side of Vida's brain.

But Vida has normal pathways for peripheral vision and movement within the malformed lobes, which Ms Maixner is trying to save.

Vida Dziduch and her parents Louisa Banner and Che Dziduch, at the Royal Children's Hospital before marathon surgery. Picture: Jay Town Source: Herald Sun

"The fallback is ... you can remove the entire right side. But rather than commit her to that, we can tailor her surgery around that," she said.

Surgery was the only option, given Vida had maxed out her medications and was still having up to 100 seizures a day.

Her dad said: "She drops back to the level of a six- or seven-month old after every big cluster."

On the operating table, Vida has her first haircut, as surgeons shave a strip down the middle of her head.

Ms Maixner and neurologist Simon Harvey are still undecided how far the resection should go.

Electrodes are placed on the brain, last-minute analysis which shows that 60 per cent, rather than 90 per cent, of the hemisphere should go.

Over 11 hours, the brain is carefully resected in tiny delicate strokes, as Vida goes through five times her blood volume in transfusions.

The return of seizures will mean further surgery to remove more tissue, and it could be up to two years before it's known if her peripheral vision has been affected.

Meanwhile, she will be comforted by kisses on her toes and loving affirmations whispered in her ear.

"We don't see this as a tragedy that's befallen us," said Ms Banner. "We've just got this extra hurdle we need to get through that we didn't expect."

Yesterday, Vida was unexpectedly transferred back to intensive care.

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We miss our brave brother

Steve and Sandy Matthews of Spring Bluff, near Murphy's Creek, who died after being swept away in floodwaters. Source: Supplied Source: Supplied

Sam Matthews (right) with sisters Sarah Norman (left), Victoria Matthews and brother Dan. Picture: Mark Calleja Source: The Courier-Mail

• Sam Matthews awarded posthumous Bravery Medal
• The 20-year-old saved sister in the 2011 Queensland Floods
• He died in a freak fire six months later

HE knew his mum and dad were dead but he kept going to save his little sister.

Sam Matthews couldn't help his parents Steve and Sandy, who were swept to their deaths in the Queensland 2011 floods, but his actions ensured his then-15-year-old sister Victoria survived.

Sam, who died in a freak fire six months later, is today being recognised for his heroic actions with a posthumous Bravery Medal from Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

His oldest sister Sarah Norman said the 20-year-old's actions during the Lockyer Valley floods had been "extraordinary" in the circumstances.

"(News of the award) made me kind of sit down and get a bit teary," she said.

"Just that he's being recognised on such a large scale for his actions was a bit of a surprise but he deserves it.

"Sam was so humble and it's just a shame that he couldn't be here to receive it himself so that he could understand that what he did was so fantastic."

When an "inland tsunami" smashed into their Spring Bluff home on January 10, Sam pushed Victoria up into the roof cavity - as water raged around them - before going back to help his parents.

But when the water surged, a wall collapsed and a lounge blocked his way, he could not reach them.

"When I first saw the house I thought they were all dead," Ms Norman said.

"To see him I was comforted to know that he and Victoria were OK but when he signalled that Mum and Dad were in the water I immediately knew that they were dead, so he too would have known that at that point.

"But he looked after Victoria. He was a wreck, we were all a wreck, but he did what he could."

Sam Matthews after the flood Source:

When the water slightly subsided Sam climbed out of the ceiling and signalled to his sister Sarah, who was on higher ground.

He then crossed the swollen creek and secured a snatch-trap to allow others to cross before setting off on foot to find his parents.

The bodies of Steve, 56, and Sandy, 46, were later found near each other, about 2km from their home.

Ms Norman, 28, said her brother had just started to recover from those traumatic events when he was killed in a blaze at Murphys Creek, days shy of his 21st birthday.

"He had just gotten to a point where he was starting to look upwards a bit," she said.

"We'd had a lot of really good talks after the floods and moved through a lot of things.

"I'm glad he got to that point at least but it was sad that after doing so well he has died."

A week before his death Sam told News Limited that he had bought a block of land and planned to build there.

"Every day has its struggles," he said.

"I was thrown in the deep end with buying (the land).

"I don't know if I was ready for it but you just have to be ready for it. It's a big responsibility I guess."

Sam Matthews with father Steve (left) and brother Dan (right). Photo: Supplied. Source: Supplied

Ms Norman said she was "gutted" by Sam's shock death.

"With mum and dad it was hugely sad but you kind of had this sense of reason - we thought at least they were together," she said.

"But with Sam there was just nothing. He died in a fire in a paddock. When we went to the property (where he died) that day I was totally empty. I just sat there in the car. I couldn't move. I didn't know how to react. There was no emotion to go with how I felt. I couldn't comprehend.

"It was our lowest. We went to all of these low places (after the flood) and didn't think we could go any lower - we just didn't expect it."

Ms Norman, her siblings - Victoria, now 18, and Dan Matthews, 30 - and their families are still struggling to move on from their unimaginable grief.

"It's seriously changed all of our lives forever. We're never going to go back to a stage where we can feel like we're living a life close to what we had previously," she said.

"Post floods and post Sam's death we keep moving but everything in our lives has changed and it's nice to have some acknowledgement of things that happened at that time because it had such a big impact on our lives.

"So it's nice that Sam's being recognised, even after all of this time, because what he did was so big and if he were still alive (the events of January 10) would still be affecting his life."

Sarah Norman with husband Jethro and children (from left) Israel, Eleanor and Vera, at their Toowoomba home. Photo: Megan Slade. Source: The Courier-Mail

Today The Australian Bravery Decorations Council is awarding one Star of Courage, 19 Bravery Medals, 50 Commendations for Brave Conduct and 15 Group Bravery Citations.

Many nominations considered by the council were for individual who demonstrated courage and determination in the face of one of the worst floods in Australia’s history.

Ms Bryce said national bravery awards recognised the heroic actions of those who put the safety and lives of others before their own.

"We are privileged to have such role models in our society, and it is an honour to be able to recognise their acts of selfless bravery and thank them publicly for their brave actions," she said.

Follow @itsKShort or email kristin.shorten@news.com.au

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