Michael Brennan can still picture his dirtbike bearing down on him after being thrown over the handlebars at his grandfather's property near Fitzgeralds Mount, just outside Blayney.
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Then, nothing, not until after he came out of a three-week coma.
Not the hour of treatment his friends and then paramedics gave to keep him alive until the chopper arrived to airlift him to Westmead Hospital, nor the emergency surgery that followed.
His head and torso took the brunt of the bike's impact on January 18 last year, the crash leaving the now 23-year-old with a collapsed lung, skull fractures and bleeding on the brain.
I can still see the bike coming toward me, I couldn't sleep because of it for a while (but) I knew I had to fight, I was too young to die.
- Michael Brennan
Ventilators breathed for him and he was fed through a tube, while the brain trauma's had a lasting impact on his speech and short-term memory. He still suffers temporary paralysis on his right side as well.
But, albeit with a long way yet to go, there's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
"I can walk on the treadmill using a harness now, but in the next few months I think I'm going to try to walk without it," he said, flashing an infectious grin.
"I can still see the bike coming toward me, I couldn't sleep because of it for a while (but) I knew I had to fight, I was too young to die."
The strength and positivity the former James Sheahan and St Stanislaus College student has shown still amazes his father Ben, who joins his son for his regular physical therapy sessions at RPT Health Group.
"It's been hard, but the way Michael has looked at it has been pretty incredible, he's been so positive," Ben Brennan said.
"The old me wouldn't have been able to do that," Michael added.
"Looking back it was easy to be by his bedside, we were on autopilot at Westmead I think," Ben said.
"We basically got sent home after three weeks, it was tough going home, especially when we got a call the next day saying the physiotherapists had him up on the side of the bed working on him."
Michael's condition had improved - he'd begun to respond - which has continued since returning to Orange, he's rapidly progressed in the last few weeks in particular.
"There was times while he was in Sydney that he just wasn't there but within a month of being back he was talking and eating," Ben explained.
"We're trying to really up the ante with his rehab and get him going now that he can tolerate it. We're here at RPT twice a week, he does swimming sessions too and the feeling in his right side has come back, slowly.
"There's no mechanical breaks in his spine so from what he's demonstrated, there's a real chance he will walk again."
"Dad says he'll take me out for dinner if I do walk again," Michael added, with a laugh.
Ben went on to explain fatigue still plagues his son late in the day but his speech, strength and engagement is continuing to improve - the young man who was so full of life before the accident is returning.
"He has the same interests and desires that he used to, he's there. We've got our son back," Ben said.
"That's how I feel. I'm lucky to be alive, and I get to be back with my family," Michael added.
"We do wonder what the outcome might have been if he had his newer helmet on, but he'd damaged it the week before and had a conversation saying he shouldn't wear it because of that," Ben continued.
"So he put on his old one, from when he was about 16. It was split through the cheek-piece after the crash and he had black eyes, fractured cheekbones ... so thankfully he had it on, it obviously saved his life."
Both Michael and Ben thanked all the emergency and healthcare staff involved, as they have previously, along with the young man's friends and family, who rallied to set up various fundraisers and offer insurmountable support.
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