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Dr Tan Swee, plastic surgeon - Source: ONE News -
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Two plane crash survivors have paid a special visit to the Hutt Hospital surgeon whose team helped to re-build their shattered faces eight years ago.
Dave Evans and Karl Cameron both suffered horrific injuries after their Cessna spiralled into an orchard near Motueka. Their injuries should have left them severely disfigured.
Six people were on board the commercial skydiving flight when it crashed in November 2001.
Two suffered minor injuries, and two walked away unharmed but Evans and Cameron were left clinging to life.
"I remember the aeroplane actually crashing ...and a guy trying to wake me up," says Evans.
Cameron, the pilot, and instructor, Evans suffered internal injuries and their faces were badly injured.
They were airlifted to Nelson Hospital, stabilised and then flown to Hutt Hospital. In the care of Dr Swee Tan and his team, both men underwent nine hour operations.
MRI scans show the extent of the damage. Cameron's face was like a jigsaw puzzle. He had no nose, no palate, teeth or jaw.
"Effectively the face was disconnected from the skull and the face then burst into several pieces," says Tan.
Cameron has endured 13 more operations, each seven or eight hours long. A huge team of specialists have rebuilt bones, teeth, soft tissue, even a smile.
And it's the smile he cherishes the most now, after becoming a dad.
"Just seeing her smile is just fantastic and of course you smile straight back so it's wonderful," says Cameron.
Both men are back living normal lives. Evans is even back skydiving.
"I'm almost as good looking as I used to be!" he says.
The pair are thankful for the care they received. And thankful too, in a strange kind of way, for the accident and the way it's shaped their attitude to life.
"Once you have a decent accident you realise that the basics is where it's at, get back to basics," says Cameron.
Tan says he's learned from his patients. "It's very humbling to see the resilience and the strength of the human spirit."
