A Go Fund-Me campaign has been set up for a much-loved family from Katherine.
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Charles and Mary-Lou McGregor-Shaw took two of their sons on a fishing trip to Shady Camp on Australia Day, when - on a sweeping bend, in a monsoonal downpour - oncoming traffic collided with them head-on.
When the car came to rest, Willard, 11, and his older brother Stirling, 16, both unaware of their serious injuries, fought to help their parents and make the vehicle safe.
The remoteness of their location delayed help, and critically injured Mary-Lou and Charles were eventually freed by emergency services and taken to Royal Darwin Hospital, where they fought for their lives in the Intensive Care Unit before being flown to Perth for specialist care.
"The lives of a beloved, humble and community-spirited family changed forever on Australia Day," fundraiser organiser Jo Brosnan said.
Charles has suffered multiple broken bones, including spinal injuries in his neck and back. Surgeons worked hard to stabilise him, performing life-saving surgery on the crushed vertebrae in his neck.
Mary-Lou remains in a coma after undergoing two emergency life-saving surgeries in the first 24 hours, due to major head trauma resulting in a severe brain injury
Willard had surgery to repair a torn bowel, and Stirling underwent surgeries on his broken leg and shoulder. Their middle brother, George, who had been on holiday interstate, flew home to be with his grandparents and extended family.
"It's been four weeks of heartache, small joys, hope and prayer," Ms Brosnan said.
"Mary-Lou and Charles are receiving the best of medical care, but their injuries are life-changing.
"They face many months of medical interventions and rehabilitation in specialist care on their long road to recovery."
The boys' grandparents, Bill and Maureen O'Keeffe, have relocated from their tight-knit community in Katherine to Perth to care for their grandsons and create as normal a life for them as possible, taking each day as it comes.
The much-loved family moved to Darwin from Katherine for their boys' high school years and are a typical Territory family - passionate about rugby league, fishing, motorbikes, chooks, vegetable gardens, dogs and their friends and family.
But most notable, the McGregor-Shaws are committed to helping shape a safe and thriving community for all, giving their time to volunteering at sports, school and fundraisers.
Mary-Lou is a former CWA champion, volunteer breastfeeding counsellor and football team manager, while Charles has been the footy club medic, while helping save lives daily in his career, caring for people in their most vulnerable moments of fear and trauma.
"The family has been overwhelmed by love and support, which illustrates the esteem in which they are held," Ms Brosnan said.
"But financial support is needed urgently to support the boys' grandparents, Maureen and Bill O'Keeffe, who are covering the everyday expenses of caring for three teenage boys while their parents are incapacitated.
"Any donation, no matter how insignificant you think it may be, will help pay for the extra food, clothing, and petrol for the boys' daily hospital visits for medical treatment and to visit mum and dad, and internet for remote schooling.
"Family members are pitching in to make sure Charles and Mary-Lou's bills are paid, and their Darwin home and their pets are cared for, but no one could have budgeted for this level of personal devastation."
Within the first two hours, the fundraiser already raised more than $10,000.
Support it here.
