Michael Wright, 28, shares his true life story:
I got into my mate’s car just as rain started splashing onto the windscreen.
I was 18 and five of us were off to meet some friends in town.
As we gathered speed, the rain continued.
Then suddenly the car jolted violently, there was a loud noise and everything went black.
When I woke, I could make out Mum’s lounge room coming into focus.
I squinted in the light and could make out people standing around me.
I recognised a couple as friends, but felt dazed.
My mum was sitting next to me, stroking my cheek.
“It’s okay, Michael,” she said gently. “Just take your time.”
She must have seen my look of confusion.
“You were in a car accident,” she continued, “but you’re going to be fine.”
I tried to remember, but my mind was a blank.
“You’ve been asleep for three months,” she said.
Three months!
Me in intensive care.
Mum explained that I’d been awake before but I couldn’t remember that.
There’d been a car accident and I’d gone to hospital for four days.
Then I was sent home and Mum looked after me, with nurses coming to see me every day.
In those months that I couldn’t remember, I was conscious, but couldn’t walk unaided.
I tried to talk but would lose my words.
I was suffering from short-term memory loss and had to be reminded about what had happened.
“So what did happen?” I asked now.
My head spun as Mum filled me in on the details.
My mate had lost control of his car and ploughed into a parked truck at around 210km per hour.
The car had spun in the air until we’d landed on the other side of the road.
I’d been thrown through the front passenger side window.
My friend who had been driving had been killed instantly.
My other three mates had survived.
Scans had shown I’d suffered brain damage.
It was a lot to take in.
Me now – i’m trying to leave my negative past behind me.
Over time, I went to stay in a rehab facility where I learnt how to walk again unaided.
I went for speech therapy and physiotherapy.
After 18 months, I was finally discharged and allowed home again.
But my brain had been irreversibly damaged.
I suffered from bouts of anger, seizures and tiredness.
At the time of the accident, I had been training to be a veterinary surgeon.
Now, I was told it was unlikely I’d ever be able to work again.
Mum encouraged me to seek compensation and four years after the accident, I was awarded nearly $3.2million for loss of earnings.
I was still not well so Mum agreed to look after my finances for me.
As I slowly rebuilt my strength and worked on my memory, I tried to live like a normal young man.
I dated girls and got a part-time job as a bartender.
Mum was very strict on how we spent the money and persuaded me to buy a house for $1.2 million.
It had a garage conversion so she could live there and continue to look after me.
As I got a bit better, she went on regular weekend breaks away.
She bought a couple of new cars.
How could she do this to her own son?
I also noticed she had bought a lot of new clothes.
“Is that new, Mum?” I said, eyeing up her jacket.
“Yes,” she shrugged.
She didn’t work so I wondered how she afforded it.
“It’s from the divorce settlement from your dad,” she muttered when I asked.
Then Mum announced she was getting in builders to do renos to the house.
At around the same time, I started dating a girl called Sarah, but Mum made it clear she didn’t like her.
One day, I was out shopping when I decided to buy Mum a gift.
“Can you put some money in my bank account?” I asked her.
“That Sarah’s got you wrapped around her little finger,” she snapped.
It made me cross. There I was buying a present for her!
“Can’t you try to like Sarah?” I begged but she said she was a gold digger.
The tension led to me and Sarah splitting up.
By now I’d had enough.
“You need to leave this house,” I told Mum.
She did, but for the next few months, she refused to let me have any money so I could hardly afford food.
My home before the damage.
Then she surprised me for my birthday by buying me a weekend away.
I was touched.
But when I was away, I received a call from one of the builders: “Sorry, Mike, but your mum has trashed the place.”
“What?” I gasped.
When I got back I was confronted with carnage.
The bed frame, table and chairs that I’d spent hours carving were in splinters.
Even the electric sockets had been ripped from the wall.
The wardrobes and sofas had been taken, as well as my dogs. She’d done $250,000 worth of damage
Then a thought struck me… If Mum was capable of this, what had she been doing with my money?
I made some calls and my bank manager had earth-shattering news.
“Teresa Wright withdrew $770,000 from your account a year ago,” he said.
There was nothing left.
Mum had taken all of it without my permission.
Suddenly all the flashy cars, handbags and regular trips abroad made sense.
The betrayal was enormous.
I was desperate for an explanation from her, but she ignored my calls.
I called the police and she ended up being convicted of destroying my property.
She was ordered to pay me $5200 and do 100 hours unpaid work.
My home after the damage.
Next she was charged with fraud for taking all my money.
In court, it emerged that she’d spent it on flashy gifts for my siblings.
She’d also bought a $225,000 holiday home.
She was sentenced to five years in jail.
It was justice of a sort, but I definitely don’t feel like a winner.
The money Mum greedily splurged was meant to safeguard me for my future.
I’ve been left with a house I can’t even sell because it’s in such a state.
The car crash didn’t destroy my life, but my mum did.
