Involved in a car accident on the outskirts of Gisborne with her partner Cam and then-three-year-old daughter Autumn, Aimee sustained catastrophic injuries – among them broken limbs, pelvis and spine, fractured facial bones and a serious head injury.

“I don’t even remember the first couple of weeks in ICU . . . I’d ask my family if we were going for a walk and they had to say I’d been in an accident and couldn’t walk anywhere,” she says. “It must have been heartbreaking for them.”

There was an extra of layer of heartbreak for Aimee, too: as a former dancer and teacher of multiple movement techniques, her body represented both her life and her livelihood.

“Ever since I studied with (Gisborne dance teacher) the late Diane Logan my whole life has revolved around how I move my body,” she says. “So not just my work but also my sense of identity was tied up in movement, and it felt like all those dreams had been shattered.”

All that was unthinkable back in late January when, after six months in Europe for Aimee’s teaching, the family set off to the Bay Of Plenty for a holiday with her father, three sisters, “and all the little cuzzies”.

Catastrophe hit at 1pm as they reached Ormond, 15 minutes from Gisborne city, when they were in collision with another vehicle.

Initial reports stated that Cam suffered serious injuries while Autumn and the driver of the other vehicle were listed as “moderate”.

Aimee’s injuries, however, were “critical”: sitting in the front passenger seat she had taken the brunt of the impact and was trapped in the vehicle.

She was later told that first to come across the accident was a nurse who held her head and neck steady for nearly an hour until Fire and Emergency NZ could extricate her from the vehicle.

While Hato Hone St John transported her straight to Gisborne Hospital, good communication meant the Eastland Rescue Helicopter was soon on stand-by to whisk her to Waikato Hospital, which was better equipped to treat her multiple serious injuries.

And with Cam and Autumn monitored in Gisborne hospital, Aimee’s mother Fiona put aside her own shock to fly to Hamilton with her.

Multiple injuries meant multiple surgeries but by the end of March Aimee was already trying to move and stretch her body to aid in recovery.

That continued over the weeks she spent at a residential brain injury clinic and since her return to Gisborne in mid-March, she has treated her physical and brain injury rehabilitation as a “job” . . . albeit one balanced with the special task of parenting.

All this is while carrying metal rods and plates in her legs, arms, pelvis, face and spine. And there are still more surgeries to go.

“But there were big question marks around my survival, let alone whether I could walk again, so just to get to this point is a wonderful outcome,” she says.

“It could not have happened without the support of my incredible family, and knowledgeable physiotherapist Vanessa Vette, who has been a huge support with my training.”

Cam also suffered a head injury and because he remembered the accident he had the extra burden of PTSD, Aimee says.

“But my own grief is more about what was lost than what actually happened, so working through that is a big part of the process.”

Before the accident Aimee and her little family had big plans, presenting a workshop at a prestigious New York ballet school to be followed by permanent – or at least long-term – residence in Paris.

That, of course, is on hold.

But while head injuries often come with a side-effect of frustration and anger, she says she just has feelings of sadness, tempered with gratitude and hope.

Aimee has since met “angels” including the nurse who was first on the scene, and made a generous donation to Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust to support the team that carried out that time-critical transfer to Waikato.

“It was one very unlucky moment for our family but we have been so lucky in many ways,” she says.

“Because I had open compound fractures the risk of infection was huge so that fast track from Gisborne to Waikato and into surgery was a life-saver.”

The impact on her family had been huge but if she wasn’t able to be transferred so soon after the accident, it could have been much worse, she added.

“On that day and since we have been cared for by so many incredible people so we can focus on healing and rebuilding our lives.”

CAPTION: TEAM-WORK: Though herself a teacher of multiple movement techniques, Aimee Challies says her long-time relationship with Gisborne physiotherapist and Pilates trainer Vanessa Vette has been a key factor in her rehabilitation.