Editorial | Positive attitude just outstanding
DENIQUE Peace refuses to let the loss of her leg in a boating accident last month stop her from making the most of life.
The 15-year-old Boosey teenager had been a keen dancer and snow skier before her left leg was severed by a boat propeller in December.
Despite losing the leg above her knee, she plans to have a prosthetic limb fitted and return to doing what she loves best.
When asked yesterday if her life had changed much since the December 12 incident, Denique paused.
“Yes ... I don’t have a leg,” she joked.
“Everything has been a big change, and the biggest change is not being able to do things for myself.
“I hope that changes when I get the prosthetic leg and I’m pretty positive that it will.
“I don’t expect that I’ll put the leg on and that I’ll walk straight away, but I will after a little while.
“I should be able to do what I could do before.”
Denique tries to avoid thinking about the incident, which occurred at Bundalong after a boat became stuck in mud and ran over her after breaking free.
Her leg was severed, and she said the only reason it wasn’t lost was it remained in her wakeboard boot.
The scene was frantic after she was run over.
The four girls aged about 15 and two primary school-aged girls who were in the boat at the time, had been “screaming and hysterical”.
The wakeboard was taken onto the boat and Denique’s leg removed and put on ice, with later attempts by surgeons to reattach the limb unsuccessful.
“I can think about it, but not for too long,” she said.
“I think about going under the boat and what could have happened.
“I find it hard to think about that.
“It could have been a lot worse, I could have drowned or I could have hit the propeller head-first.”
Denique said she had avoided looking down at the damage during the incident, and instead focused on her best friend, who was with her in the boat.
“It was my first, and probably last, time wakeboarding,” she said.
But Denique, who returns to school for the first time on Monday, is keen to get back into snow skiing and dancing.
A visit by Paralympian Sam Bramham during her hospital stay buoyed her hopes and proved there was no reason for anything to hold her back.
Her mother Sonia Peace said it was a case of “just rolling on with it”.
“The loss of her leg isn’t the end of her life,” she said.
“She can still do all the things she wants to do.
“Everyone is behind us, the entire town, the school, friends, the dance community, everyone.
“There are just so many well-wishers.”
The community has raised $8000 through the Mulwala Water Ski Club towards the purchase of a prosthetic limb.
Club chief executive Peter Duncan, who presented Denique a cheque yesterday, hoped other groups would also help out.
“We know it’s hard, but we’re really impressed by her outlook,” he said.
“There’s nothing she can’t achieve if we get behind her and give her the help she deserves.”
Mrs Peace said they held no malice towards the owner of the boat.
“I couldn’t imagine how they’re feeling,” she said, “but it was an accident.”
“We’ve spoken to them and it’s all fine on our side, they feel terribly sorry for the whole thing.”
Denique joked that if she ever gets depressed, “I just yell at mum”.
“People say I’m brave and an inspiration for staying positive,” she said.
“Well, I’m not positive all the time, just the majority of the time.”
