Horror end to Bali trip
Tori and Louis in Bali before the accident.
Tori with her mother, Tracey.
Tori with two of her brothers.
Tori and Louis.
Tori with her mother, Tracey.
A young couple from Newcastle have suffered “devastating” injuries while on holidays in Bali, after they were thrown from a motorcycle in a cowardly hit-and-run accident.
Tori Van de Stadt, 25, and her boyfriend Louis Macindoe, 26, were “left for dead” after a car struck them from behind last Wednesday, while they were on their way back from dinner on their final night in Bali.
Family members say it was a miracle that two good Samaritans with medical training found their motorbike “folded in half” in the middle of the road and then discovered the pair bleeding and unconscious in a nearby ditch.
“The guy that found Tori had to keep her airways open for over an hour until the ambulance arrived because her face was so smashed up,” Tori’s mother, Tracey Priestley said.
“Even Louis would have bled to death had someone not found them. We don’t know how long they were there for.”
Tori is well known in hospitality circles as the manager of family-run Mexican restaurant Casa De Loco, in Newcastle East.
Since the accident there has been an outpouring of generosity for her online, with a GoFundMe page raising over $54,000 for a full facial reconstruction that she will undergo in Royal Perth Hospital on Wednesday.
Among those to pitch in have been celebrity couple Jake Wall and Jennifer Hawkins, former Jets player Joel Griffiths and former lord mayor Jeff McCloy.
Tori will not be woken from an induced coma until after the surgery – which is expected to take around eight hours – is complete.
She has already had a blood transfusion and gone under the knife to repair damage to her spine.
“At the moment we can’t really do much, other than hold her hand and talk to her. It’s a bit scary but we’re trying to stay positive,” Ms Priestley said.
Tori’s recovery is expected to take many months, but Ms Priestley said her daughter was lucky the skin itself had only sustained a few cuts and doctors expected her to regain full mobility.
“All of the damage is underneath, so she’s going to get her pretty face back,” she said.
“Just imagine telling a 25-year-old girl that she was going to be permanently disfigured.”
Louis is a graphic designer and the editor of ‘Transfer’, an Australian and New Zealand snowboarding magazine.
His mother has flown to Bali to be with him while he recovers from a fractured eye socket, a deep cut to his head and significant blood loss.
His father Rob said his condition would need to be assessed properly when he returned to Newcastle within the next few days.
”He’s only just getting himself together and he’s got to worry about Tori,” Mr Macindoe said.
“All the groundswell has been for Tori’s fight because she’s so injured and the costs to the family have been massive.”
Tori’s family will have to foot a medical bill of over $60,000 for the cost of airlifting her from a Balinese hospital to Perth, and for accommodation while they maintain a bedside vigil.
Tori has five older siblings and Ms Priestley said they were distraught.
“They all love each other so much, we’ve always been a really close family,” she said.
Tori’s friends described her as a “bubbly” and “do anything for anyone” type of person, with an adventurous nature and a genuine zest for life.
During a recent trip to Hawaii, she spontaneously decided to enter a marathon.
She has been working two jobs – managing the cafe and as a hairdresser at Suki – while saving up for a trip to South America in January.
“Victoria’s just such a kind person, she’s always the first to help someone in need,” Ms Priestley said.
“She’s travelled so much on her own. Then she goes away to Bali with her boyfriend for one week, and it’s the one time you think you don’t have to worry about her.”
The couple met at primary school but only became romantically involved when they reconnected in the past 12 months.
Mr Macindoe said his son had a background in enduro racing and had grown up from an early age with bikes.
“He’s no idiot, he would not have been doing anything silly on the road, he is always so careful with Tori,” he said.
“Tori was all dressed up to go out because it was their last night in town.”
Ms Priestley said while the family still felt as though they were living a nightmare, they were grateful for the community’s generosity and a series of coincidences that probably saved her daughter’s life.
Two English army veterans with medical experience were first on the scene after the accident, and two Dutch nurses were also able to render assistance.
An Australian man who lives and works in Bali took charge at the crash scene, made contact with the families and even paid for some of the medical treatment.
“What they did was pretty incredible and we are so blessed that they just appeared when something so horrific had happened,” she said.
“We were apprehensive about her flying, but we got a plane that had a full ICU unit with a doctor and nurse, I can not commend them enough.
”The minute she arrived in Perth, we realised it was the right thing to do. With the communication barriers in Bali it was really hard to understand what was going on, and they actually missed quite a few things that were wrong with her.”
It comes after a string of motorcycle accidents involving Australian tourists in Bali in the past 12 months.
Canberra man Liam Rudd suffered bleeding on the brain after he crashed his motorcycle in February.
Orange teenager Lochie Connaughton was killed in April when his motorcycle crashed inside the basement of a hotel.
Melbourne Man Adrian Newton died a month later when his motorcycle collided with a garbage truck, while Australian woman Bernadette O’Connor was killed in July when she was struck by a speeding motorbike.