A two-year-old boy and his critically injured mother, who is from Belarus, face an uncertain future after surviving a multi-vehicle crash that killed the boy’s father in northern NSW.
Australian citizen Adrian Peri, 41, and two other people died in the head-on crash on the New England Hwy north of Armidale on February 10.
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While the seatbelt she was wearing saved 34-year-old Krystsina Lutsiankova’s life, it crushed her internal organs and she was left with critical injuries.
The couple’s son, Benjamin, escaped unharmed in the back seat and is being cared for by relatives while his mother remains in intensive care.
She faces a long road to recovery — and questions about how long she will be able to remain in Australia.
The couple, who were married for less than four years, had been living in Dubai, where Peri worked in construction, and travelled to Australia in mid-January for a holiday.
They were visiting Peri’s family in Armidale when the accident happened.
NSW Police confirmed a car veered onto the wrong side of the road, and the couple’s Mazda SUV and a Holden SUV collided head-on at 6.50pm on February 10.
The male Holden driver and his female passenger, both aged 27, died at the scene — as did Peri.
Lutsiankova, who was in the front seat of the Mazda, was taken in a critical condition to Armidale Hospital before being transferred to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, where she remains in ICU.
After days in a coma, she woke with a traumatic brain injury and an uncertain fate.
Alex Petrov*, a Sydney-based Russian national who organises support for Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian communities in Australia, told 7NEWS.com.au that Lutsiankova has undergone a number of surgeries — with more required.
“Last week she had a bowel operation, and 1m of her intestine has been taken out … and she had a spinal surgery,” Petrov said.
“We have different prospects for her outcomes, for her physical state and also her mental state.”
While Benjamin is being cared for by his paternal grandmother and aunties, it is unclear how long Lutsiankova will be permitted to remain in Australia for rehabilitation — with time ticking on her tourist visa.
Petrov said he organised a medical emergency visa for her mother, Tatsiana Lutsiankova — who doesn’t speak any English — to fly over from Minsk, and delivered her from the airport to be by her daughter’s side at the hospital.
He also started a GoFundMe and has organised a team of volunteers to help Lutsiankova with things such as legal and insurance paperwork, emotional support and day-to-day needs once she is released from hospital.
“I just cried out and said, ‘Let’s get together, and maybe we can just financially assist her’,” Petrov told 7NEWS.com.au.
He said he has shortlisted 20 volunteers from hundreds of locals who offered help including interpreters, legal advisers, and spiritual figures.
He called the community response in Newcastle “a great story for society”.
The Department of Home Affairs was approached for comment but was unable to respond before deadline.
* Real name withheld for fear of persecution in his home country