Aussie nutritionist Lee Holmes is lucky to be alive after horrific car accident

A former flight attendant has revealed the terrifying moment her car went flying through the air after she nicked a concrete curb on the highway going 110kms per hour, and how her air emergency training saved her life.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Lee Holmes who left life in the sky to become a nutritionist, described the terrifying moment her car ricocheted through the air before crashing through bushland beside the road and landing on its roof.

‘I was left crushed inside. When I came to, I saw what I thought was steam or smoke coming from the car so my flight attendant training kicked in and I activated flight attendant mode,’ she said from her hospital bed on Thursday.

The 55-year-old Sydney-based nutritionist, who has 57,000 followers on Instagram, was running errands and borrowed a friend’s car while visiting Byron Bay when she crashed on Tuesday.

She says her seatbelt saved her life. 

Lee had been to the dentist to have a couple ‘broken temporary teeth’ fixed, which required numbing medication then waited an hour for it to ‘wear off’ before driving again. 

She was headed inland to Mullumbimby going 110km an hour – the legal speed limit – when she crashed.

The vehicle ‘nicked a concrete bollard then ricocheted’ into the air, hitting several trees and flipped itself over before coming to a stop

‘I was left crushed inside. When I came to, I saw what I thought was steam or smoke coming from the car so my flight attendant training kicked in and I activated flight attendant mode,’ Lee told FEMAIL

‘I was driving along and the next thing I remember were big trees and bush land whooshing past me, it sounded a bit like nails on a chalk board with the branches scratching and clawing at the windows of the car,’ Lee said. 

In the moments after she recalls seeing a white tunnel, but can’t confirm when this occurred or if the car had stopped moving yet. 

‘It was just a couple of seconds after that, when everything went eerily quiet and my eyes seemed to fixate on a white tunnel ahead. I recollect it being bright and illuminating and beckoning. At that moment I felt an usual sense of calm and peacefulness wash over me it wasn’t scary, more inviting and familiar,’ she said. 

Police officers and an ambulance arrived at the scene and took Lee to Tweed hospital. ‘I could hear the murmur of voices coming in and out of my head. I remember the police officer and medics saying I was lucky to be alive and the fact I was wearing a seatbelt that had saved me,’ she said

When she regained consciousness she had to quickly focus her vision in the upside down car, and her survival instincts kicked in. 

‘I unbuckled my seatbelt then somehow checked my body for any blood or injury. I realised I was still alive and scoured around with my eyes for a way out,’ she said. 

‘It was then I started to panic but thankfully I noticed a half opened window that I was able to crawl through.’ 

‘I am still very shaken up but it’s an absolute miracle I survived and am alive to tell this story,’ she said (pictured months before the crash) 

With her legs wobbly like jelly, she stood up and started to walk then spotted a lady walking towards her who asked if she was okay.

‘I think I said I was ok and I managed to drag myself down towards the road but then my legs started to buckle and I said no I don’t think I am ok actually. It was at this point I fell on the ground and just needed to lie down,’ she said.

Police officers and an ambulance arrived at the scene and took Lee to Tweed hospital.  

‘I could hear the murmur of voices coming in and out of my head. I remember the police officer and medics saying I was lucky to be alive and the fact I was wearing a seatbelt that had saved me,’ she said. 

In the morning on the day of the accident Lee had started her morning with a gratitude prayer for being alive, which she finds incredibly ‘surreal’ (pictured before crash)

Doctors assisted immediately to assess whether Lee had any critical injuries.

‘In hospital I was placed on a large table and I could hear about six people checking all the different areas of my body and pointing them out.. ankles, check, knees check,’ she continued.

‘I heard someone say they would need to cut me out of my clothes – it felt like a watching myself in a crime show.’

Miraculously Lee had no broken bones but sustains an injury to her sternum and clavicle and also soft tissue injuries.

‘I am still very shaken up but it’s an absolute miracle I survived and am alive to tell this story,’ she said.

In the morning on the day of the accident Lee had started her morning with a gratitude prayer for being alive, which she finds incredibly ‘surreal’.