The young victim of a horrific rollercoaster accident has stared down death before after a shocking car crash.
Shylah Rodden, 26, remains in intensive care after being struck by the Rebel Coaster at the Melbourne Royal Show on Sunday.
Shocking footage of the incident, cruelly shared on TikTok, showed Shylah being struck by the rollercoaster and dragged along the tracks before being flung nine metres to the bitumen below.
A young Shylah Rodden in 2014 – the same year her life would be turned upside down for the first time
Horrifying footage shows Shylah Rodden (pictured in black) moments from being hit by the Rebel Coaster at the Melbourne Royal show on Sunday
As Shylah now fights the battle of her life, Daily Mail Australia can reveal the Melburnian was involved in a horror crash in January 2021 when she flipped a car on the Western Ring Road after ploughing into a truck and a car.
She was not wearing a seatbelt and was flung from the car onto the road.
Shylah survived the crash but needed significant rehabilitation to get back on her feet.
Backed by her supportive parents, she managed to walk again.
Her gruelling road to recovery came after yet another serious car crash in 2019.
Shylah Rodden made no secrets she was a free spirit who enjoyed a good time
Ms Rodden (above) remains in the intensive care unit with critical injuries
The young woman is no stranger to overcoming life’s harsh hurdles.
As an 18-year old, she found herself among rotten company, who led her into a seedy world of drugs and wrong doing.
‘Live life loose’, she inked on her arm at the time.
Aided by a loving family, the teenager went about changing her life.
She got a new job, sort professional help for her demons and pledged to make new friends.
But the road to recovery is lined with potholes and it would not be long before Shylah again found herself in one.
Caged in a cell, isolated from those she loved, Shylah had reached what she believed had been the crossroads of her life.
It was 2017, and again she pledged to clean herself up and live the life she no doubt dreamed of as a little girl.
The demon ice would not allow it.
In February 2019 Shylah was involved in a serious car crash, but things were about to go from bad to worse.
In January last year, Shylah sustained shocking injuries when she flipped a car on the Western Ring Road after ploughing into a truck and a car.
On the road to recovery, and just two months before she would be struck by the rollercoaster, Shylah copped another curveball with the death of her beloved brother Jason.
‘Dad sat me down and told me that my brother had passed away,’ she wrote in the weeks before her accident.
‘He wasn’t just my big brother, he was my best friend, my everything, the person I looked up to and inspired to be like.’
On the day she would be struck down yet again, Shylah had been working at a friend’s stall at the show.
They had been on a break when the pair decided to go on a few rides to kill time.
The Rebel Coaster (above) opened just days after the incident on Tuesday with Shylah’s family slamming the move as ‘shameful’
It is understood Shylah dropped her phone while on the rollercoaster.
Video obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows passengers were made to bring their belongings on the ride with them.
Police believe Shylah walked onto the tracks of the high-speed ride to retrieve her phone.
A Melbourne Royal Show spokeswoman claimed ‘the safety and well-being of our visitors to the show continues to be our number one priority’.
The safety watchdog WorkSafe is in the process of determining if that statement is true.
The rollercoaster that struck Shylah reopened just days after the sickening incident.
Show management declined to comment on whether new safety procedures have been adopted in the wake of it.
Daily Mail Australia understands WorkSafe indeed did have some concerns with how the rollercoaster was operating.
Whether that amounts to criminal charges remains unknown for now.
As is the medical condition of Shylah, who has managed to miraculously cling onto life.
Ms Rodden (above) received ‘horrific’ facial injuries in the incident and her family said they are unsure how she will recover
Police revealed on Monday the roller coaster was travelling at 70km/h when she was hit.
Horrified families watched on as paramedics treated her for serious facial injuries at the scene.
Shylah’s father Alan Rodden told Daily Mail Australia his daughter had suffered life-changing injuries.
‘Obviously I can’t talk to my daughter. She’s going to be in a coma for quite a while,’ he said.
‘The injuries are horrific. Horrific. She’s brain damaged. It’s pelvic, her arms, legs, back, neck – there’s hardly a thing that’s not broken. I just can’t work out how the hell so much damage has been done.
‘Even the doctors have said they haven’t seen anything as bad as this for a long time.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk