A Brisbane motorbike rider who was sent flying over his handlebars and left lying in pain on a busy inner-city road has found the good Samaritan who stopped and stayed with him until paramedics arrived, thanks to the power of Facebook.
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Nathan Gütt-Stafford was on his way to work on Tuesday, May 29 and was riding along Annerley Road when he saw a car near him that appeared to be dragging something underneath.
Mr Gütt-Stafford said he looked at the car dragging the object underneath for a few seconds. When he looked up again the traffic had stopped and he collided with the car in front at the intersection of Annerley Road and Cornwall Street in Dutton Park.
"I went over the handlebars and onto the car's boot ... half of my lower back and feet were on the car while my back and head were off the car.
"I didn't lose consciousness on impact, but my memory is blurry due to the shock."
Mr Gütt-Stafford fell onto the road following the collision and didn't want to move due to the pain he felt in his back.
"The first person who came to me was Rachael who called the ambulance and the second person was Kylie who stayed with me from the start," he said.
"She stayed with me the whole time while others directed traffic ... she constantly made sure I was okay and I felt very safe and comfortable with her."
The motorcyclist lay on the road for about 15 minutes before the ambulance arrived and took him to the nearby Princess Alexandra Hospital.
Mr Gütt-Stafford sprained his lower back, suffered whiplash around his neck and also had a cut on his eyebrow courtesy of his sunglasses.
After being released from hospital, he wanted to find the mysterious Kylie and thank her, so he put a post on Facebook.
"It stayed with me the whole time because I wanted to meet her face-to-face and say thank you and let her know I was okay," he said.
The post was shared more than 450 times and several of Mr Gütt-Stafford's friends also took screenshots of it to post in local groups.
The efforts of all those Facebook users who shared the post paid off, with one of Kylie Heard's friends recognising her in the picture and letting her know someone was looking for her.
"A former work colleague who I hadn't been in contact with for five years saw the red hair and knew it was me straight away," Ms Heard said.
"She posted it on my wall ... I was so surprised Nathan was looking for me.
"I messaged him and said I couldn’t believe he found me. You see people looking for others all the time on Facebook, but you never think it will happen to you."
Ms Heard, who works as a nurse, said she had been on her way home on May 29 when she witnessed the crash and pulled over straight away.
"I ran across to him and my partner directed traffic. My main priority was to keep him distracted because he was quite distressed, so I talked his ear off and waited for the ambulance," she said.
"I asked him about his partner, about work and his motorbike because it looked nice and new and he said he hadn’t had it long - I did anything I could to distract him."
Once Mr Gütt-Stafford was in the hands of paramedics Ms Heard went on her way, but in the days after she did consider trying to find her patient in hospital, but didn't know where to look.
The pair plan to meet in person, with next Saturday (June 16) pencilled in.
