Australian Story: August 19

Matt Le Nevez will introduce Monday’s Australian Story on one young woman’s remarkable recovery from Intensive Care to the Kokoda Track in just 16 months.

Dr Manoj Saxena, intensive care specialist, St George Hospital: ‘I told the family that she’s not gonna survive or if she survives, she’s going to be severely disabled and look here she is.’

Chloe Palmer-Simpson was only 18 when she was involved in a head-on car crash on a country road near Bowral. The accident left her fighting for her life and severely brain injured.

Although the elite open-water swimmer was just minutes from death, the efforts of her medical staff, coupled with her own determination led to a recovery that stunned everyone.

‘I wanted to be the old the old me, I wanted to be able to walk again, I wanted to be able to do everything myself,’ says Chloe Palmer-Simpson.

Now, just 16 months after her accident, Chloe is attempting to walk the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea with the medical team that saved her in order to raise funds for trauma research at St George Hospital in Sydney.

The track has been described as 96 kilometres of ‘sheer hell’ and asking a brain-injured young woman to attempt it is not without risk.

Actor Matt Le Nevez encountered Chloe Palmer-Simpson on the Kokoda track and was duly impressed: ‘The track tested me mentally and physically every day. I went the opposite way to Chloe, so we crossed paths. The way she went is meant to be tougher!’

But can Chloe survive the walk, let alone reach the finish line?

Monday August 19, 8pm, ABC1.