Working as a volunteer firefighter in the small Northland community of Te Kopuru, Barbara Searle had become used to often recognising the people she was called out to help. So when a call came in on January 30 asking for help for a man having a suspected heart attack, she wasn’t overly surprised to find the victim was her brother-in-law Kevin Searle.
But while helping her husband’s brother into a rescue chopper, the 46-year-old received another call for help – there had been a serious car accident only kilometres away – and it was an emergency that would change her life forever.
Rushing towards the scene, Barbara was devastated to see it was her sister Anne Talijancich’s family in the wreckage. Their ute had hit a bridge and while her sister’s partner Kevin Rowland and son Bucko, two, were already safely out of the mangled wreckage, Anne and her 10-year-old daughter Malia Talijancich-Mafileo were still trapped inside. They were both unconscious and clearly critically injured.
“It’s such a small community that you expect to know the person involved,” explains Barbara. “As we got close, I knew whose ute it was. But you can’t panic or get emotional – you just go into automatic and do what you’re trained to do.”
Barbara has been a tower of strength for the grieving family (from left) Bucko, Kevin and Malia.
Barbara, a Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger and an off-duty nurse, was on the scene before the ambulance. She could tell immediately that time was critical. “I kept talking to Anne, telling her I was looking after Malia and that everything was going to be all right,” Barbara says.
“She could hear me. At one point, I shouted her name and she jolted, so I am sure she knew we were looking after her little girl. I was reassuring her that Malia was OK, and not to worry and that we all loved her.”
Whether Anne – who also worked as a volunteer firefighter – waited to know Malia was out of the vehicle before she gave up her fight for life, Barbara will never know. But she takes comfort that she was with her younger sister in her final minutes.
“She had her family around her, plus her volunteer family too. Anne had been a Fire Service volunteer for more than 10 years, so she had people she cared about doing all they could to save her and her daughter. That’s a huge comfort – that we were all there with her.”
Left – volunteer firefighter Anne had family and friends around her when she died. Right – a young Malia with her beloved mum.
Still grieving for the sister she adored, Barbara tells us that Anne was always helping others. “We miss her. It’s been hard, but we have got through it together. We all loved her and will continue to do the work she loved to do.”
Despite her shock at losing her sister in the crash, Barbara had to stay strong for Malia, who suffered major head injuries. She was by the girl’s side as she was put into an induced coma, then accompanied her on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to Starship children’s hospital.
Malia’s little brother Bucko was choppered to Whangarei Hospital, then later transferred to Starship with a fractured skull.
Malia remained in a coma for nearly a week and had a further three weeks at Starship before being transferred to Wilson Home, a specialist brain injury rehabilitation centre on Auckland’s North Shore.
Her nana Carol stayed by her side the whole time and thankfully Malia, now 12, has recently returned to school full-time.
Her large, loving family all help out to support Kevin, Malia and Bucko, and the women of the family – Barbara, her sister Jo and mum Carol – all do their best to provide a maternal presence.
Mercifully, Malia has no memory of the accident, only the fun day they had before the crash, visiting their favourite camping spot in Pouto. The day had been filled with tidying up the area and lots of hugs from Anne because Malia had been so helpful.
“Mum used to give me lots of hugs,” says Malia. “She was always happy and she’d play with Bucko and me, building huts or going to the beach.”
The softly spoken girl tells us she wants people to know how caring her mother was. “Mum was always helping people and making them laugh. I want to help people when I get older. I miss my mum, but sometimes I can feel her around me, which makes me happy.”
Anne spending time with her son Bucko, before her death.
The tragic accident featured on TV One’s Westpac Rescue Helicopter show Code: 1 on August 8, focusing on the paramedics’ efforts to stabilise Malia before flying her to Starship. The producers chose not to feature Anne in the story out of respect for the whanau.
So immersed in emergency services themselves, the family – who were relieved that Kevin recovered from his heart attack – hopes the series helps raise vital funds for the chopper service.
“When you live in a small community, you feel like a big family,” Barbara tells. “We look out for each other and do our bit, hoping you’ll never need the service yourself.
“It has been hard, but it’s heart-warming to know that so many people were there for us when we needed them.”
