Australian teenager critically injured in Mackay car crash airlifted to Brisbane

Makeely Hoffman, an 18-year-old from northern Queensland, remains critically injured and bed-bound at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital after being involved in a single-vehicle crash in Mackay on Sept. 4, her family said.

Hoffman was a passenger when the car lost control and struck a tree, leaving her trapped in the vehicle with life-threatening injuries that include breaks to both legs, a fractured eye socket, a broken collarbone, a bruised liver and a shattered pelvis. She was airlifted by LifeFlight to Brisbane and underwent surgery to reconstruct her hip last Friday, according to family members.

Hoffman has remained bed-bound for more than two weeks and is receiving acute medical care and early rehabilitation, her family said. Her mother, Katie Hoffman, told reporters that Makeely has been experiencing flashbacks to the crash, difficulty sleeping and blurred vision in the eye that was fractured. The family said she must relearn how to walk and that concerns remain about nerve damage in her left leg.

"It's going to be an extremely long journey to recovery. She has to learn how to walk again," Katie Hoffman said. "She's having a lot of problems with her left ankle and she still needs to go for a vision test because the eye that was fractured is now a bit blurry. On top of that, she's having a hard time sleeping because she gets flashbacks from the crash. It's going to be a very long road because she's not just healing her bones but her mind too."

Family members have incurred travel and accommodation costs while staying near the Brisbane hospital, and a family friend has launched a GoFundMe page to help cover ongoing expenses. "Her recovery will be long and complex, involving months of acute medical care and ongoing rehabilitation," friend Tanisha Hadley wrote on the fundraiser page.

Hoffman had been undertaking a traineeship to become a phlebotomist and is known to family and friends for her interest in cars and motorbikes, her mother said. She has not spoken to the driver, described by the family as her then-boyfriend, since the collision.

Queensland Police are investigating the circumstances of the crash. Authorities have urged members of the public with dashcam footage or other information to contact Crime Stoppers. No formal charges have been reported as investigations continue.

Medical staff at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital have not provided a public timetable for Hoffman's discharge, and family members said prognosis has varied as her condition changes day to day. Her mother said hospital teams are monitoring nerve function by moving the injured limb daily and are preparing for an extended course of rehabilitation.

Friends and relatives have visited the hospital to offer support, and family members described a wide community response in the days after the collision. Police continue to seek evidence that could clarify the vehicle's movements before it struck the tree, and investigators have not released further details about the cause of the crash.

As Hoffman begins what her family described as a "long and complex" recovery, they said they remain focused on her immediate medical needs and the practical costs of long-distance care while the investigation into the Sept. 4 crash continues.