Overcoming all odds, horrific car accident survivor Kerry Hardy completes Yellowfin Open Sea swim

Salt Rock resident, Kerry Hardy, who was involved in a horrific car accident 3 years ago, recently overcame enormous odds to complete the 5km Yellowfin Ocean Sea Challenge.

Determined to recover, Kerry (41) began cautious swim training at Thompsons Bay tidal pool.

Every day she would swim around the pool, marking each lap by placing a pebble on the steps.

Ballito long distance swimmers José de Charmoy and Mike Oberholzer, who also train at the pool regularly, watched her progress with interest.

They saw a spark in her and it was not just her swimming potential.

“Her iron will to succeed and her excitement for life shone brightly. I introduced myself and offered some swimming guidance. Lap by lap an unlikely friendship formed and Kerry landed up sharing her horrific past,” said José.

Each day, the duo would tweak Hardy’s technique and slowly her daily distance increased.

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After 2 months, she was comfortably up to about 3.5km.

Then José prepared her for her first open water swim from Clarke Bay.

“It was special sharing and completing the swim with her.

She taught me that past hardships can be overcome through perseverance and, at the end of the day, there is hope,” said José.

Kerry said the accident could have happened to anyone, but she hopes to inspire people in similar circumstances to never give up.

“Every day I know that when the sun rises, I need to be grateful and excited that I have the whole day ahead of me to do amazing things,” she said.

The vehicle accident – on the M4 near the Sibaya Precinct – in September of 2018 killed one man and left Kerry critical and in desperate need of donor blood.

When the mother of 2 was admitted to Umhlanga Hospital for surgery she received the last 2 bags of O-negative blood available in the whole of KZN.

Hundreds of residents queued at the Ballito Library to donate blood for her.

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People also queued at Durban and Pinetown.

She went into a deep coma with a glasgow coma score of 4.

“The medical team did not believe I would recover.”

“I had to go for an abdominal operation and I also suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. I had to go for another operation last November. It took me almost two years to be normal again.”

She remains forever grateful for the community’s support.

“I was told that there were people coming in to the hospital to donate blood and I will always be grateful for that.”