Victorian teenager hospitalised after kangaroo jumped into dirt bike

Jemima Song, 14, and her sister Isabel were taking a joyride on their dirt bikes on a remote farm in western Victoria when the kangaroo sprung out from the trees and into her front wheel.

Isabel looked back to see Jemima unconscious on the ground after the collision.

“I was on the ground lying there and she was wondering if I was faking it or not so she tried to pick me up to see if I was okay but I wasn’t,” Jemima said.

A neighbour heard the screams for help and called triple-zero.

Jemima’s father, David Song, was scared she was going to die.

“The worst fear was going through my mind that we were going to lose her.

“She had this massive trauma to the left side of her body, it looked like she had just been hit by a car.”

An ambulance helicopter arrived at the property in Beremboke within 30 minutes.

MICA flight paramedic Stuart Hill said Jemima’s helmet saved her.

“Jemima was really lucky,” Mr Hill said.

“It could’ve been a lot worse had she not been wearing protective gear.”

Jemima spent ten days in the Royal Children’s Hospital recovering from a ruptured spleen, ruptured liver, spine fractures and internal bruising.

“I couldn’t eat for six days, and even after that I couldn’t eat much ’cause my stomach shut down.”

Fortunately, doctors expect Jemima to make a full recovery by the end of April.

She wasted no time getting back to her usual life after getting out of hospital, returning to school two days later.

“I wasn’t really concerned about it, I just wanted to get back on the bike,” she said.