A CAPALABA woman is throwing a positive spin on alarming statistics released this week showing the state's road toll rose by 11 to 221 dead at December 1.
Uta Katrin Harmsen, known to friends as Katy, was almost one of those statistics.
Although there have been no recorded fatalities on Redland roads this year, compared with three in 2014, Ms Harmsen thought she was going to die after crashing her motorcycle.
Her BMW F650 motorcycle was clipped by a car and crashed on Mount Cotton Road in February, slamming her into a traffic island.
Her left leg ploughed through her pelvis and the 54-year-old ended up in Princess Alexansra Hospital with a double fractured left shoulder and a shattered pelvis, which took six plates and 21 screws to fix.
After spending a month in PA Hospital, two months in St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney and a month at home in a wheelchair, the David Jones employee was desperate to return to a normal life.
She had a holiday booked to the island of Ibiza where there was an around-the-clock dance party, which she did not want to miss.
Ms Harmsen underwent five weeks of intense physio but made it on to the Ibiza dance floor - albeit with crutches and two months later was able to go on a safari trip in South Africa.
"I was cactus after seven days dancing like there was no tomorrow but I could never have done it without the physio treatment which took a solid three weeks to get to the point where I could walk," she said.
"My physio, Don Mackay, was the key element in my recovery and he taught me different exercises in the pool, on a massage table, with ball games and how to stretch my muscles.
"He also taught me to be patient not to give up. Sadly Don now works in Tokyo but I'm lucky I had a chance to have the best physio in the world, while he was based in Queensland."
Ms Harmsen has nominated the physio practice, Chandler Results, for this year's I Love My Physio campaign, organised by the Australian Physiotherapist Association.
The association wants people to share their stories of how their lives were shattered and then rebuilt with support from a physiotherapist.
