Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews released a video message today discussing his horrific back injury with wife Catherine Andrews. In the video, Catherine opens up about how she thought the Premier was going to die.
Daniel Andrews is officially returning to work tomorrow after suffering a fracture of the T7 vertebra and breaking several ribs in March. Moments after the fall happened, Catherine raced to see if her husband was ok, and in the video recalls seeing him go “blue.”
“It was awful because you were going blue,” Catherine said.
“I was thinking you are going to die here in Sorrento in this holiday house.
“You were looking at me and you felt the same.”
Before I come back to work tomorrow, I thought I would share what happened. In my own words. pic.twitter.com/RkJcvPTYyu
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) June 27, 2021
Daniel Andrews also talked about how the accident happened, and how he knew he was in trouble as soon as he slipped on those wet stairs.
“We’d been down the beach, having a family weekend,” Andrews said.
“It was a bit of a chance to have some time together and to make up for the time that summer had been really busy and a holiday that had been planned hadn’t happened.
“I am making my way to the car and head off to work and it had been raining … as I put my foot on the first step, I knew I was in trouble.
“I became airborne almost … and all I could hear was this almighty crunch … when I heard the crunch, I thought, ‘This is serious. We are in trouble here.’”
Earlier this month, Andrews announced that he would be returning to work after being given the all clear by his care team at the Alfred. His broken vertebra has almost fully healed, but his six broken ribs will take a little longer to heal.
While Andrews has been off-work, James Merlino has stepped in as Acting Victorian Premier.
“I’m grateful to James Merlino for stepping in to lead the government and the state through a really difficult time – he’s done an amazing job,” Andrews said in a statement.
