Emily was told she'd never walk again. On her 30th birthday, something incredible happened.

Emily Quattrocchi had enjoyed an amazing few weeks. She had finished her bachelor's degree, majoring in film. She had also travelled to Cambodia with her cousin's yoga group, where she shot footage for a short documentary. Back home again, she played netball and went ten-pin bowling with friends.

Then her memory goes blank for about six weeks.

Three days after bowling, Emily's life changed forever during a 40-minute commute from her country town, Euroa, to regional city Shepparton, in north-east Victoria.

While Emily has no recall of July 20, 2018, her mum Lyn Newnham can fill in the gaps. "I was getting ready to leave for the airport because I was going to Queensland," Lyn recalls. "Emily and I said goodbye and she left for work.

"I went to the hairdresser and heard an ambulance, and thought, 'Oh no, I hope Emily is okay' but then I thought, "She should already be at work.'

"After my haircut, I went to the pharmacy. That's when I answered a call on my mobile from my niece. She said there had been an accident on the Euroa-Shepparton Rd, and it might be Emily."

Lyn immediately headed towards the scene, but came across the police vehicle on its way to find her. "The police took me home and told me Emily was being airlifted to Melbourne," she says.

Image: Supplied.

It is believed Emily, 24, swerved to miss sheep roaming at a sweeping bend. Her car left the bitumen, rolled and hit a tree, landing on its roof. Passersby, including one of Emily's friends, discovered the slightly camouflaged car within the next hour.

The vehicle's airbag had failed to inflate and Emily's head landed in her lap, breaking her T4 vertebra. She also suffered broken ribs and shoulder, and a brain injury.

"We were told if she survived, she probably wouldn't walk again," Lyn recalls, adding Emily also had sepsis. "It was a parent's worst nightmare."

Emily was still in a coma when she was transferred from major trauma hospital, Royal Melbourne, to Austin Health, which specialises in spinal care.

She has no memory of the early weeks after waking in intensive care, paralysed from the chest down, but able to use her arms.

Believing the young filmmaker may use photos and footage, Emily's family recorded her painstaking progress: learning to clear her throat, to talk, swallow, eat solid food, and transfer from bed to a wheelchair.

At first Emily was confused, asking: "Why are you videoing me?" In one video, her sister answered: "You might want to see it one day." Profoundly, Emily smiled, looked at the camera and said: "Hi Emily. You never give up."

True to her word, Emily never gave up.

"There were tough times, but I wanted to stay positive," she says.

Even with a tracheostomy (a tube through her neck into her windpipe) Emily mouthed the words to songs. Peg fed for three months, there is footage of her pointing to the tube delivering liquid food to her stomach, and teasing: "Mmmm this is so yummy, you must be so jealous!"

After seven months in hospital ̶ including her 25th birthday, and missing her university graduation — Emily went home. But first she made a video to surprise one of her favourite nurses, Donna.

"I made a music clip with patients and staff miming parts of Oh Donna by Ritchie Valens," Emily explains.

"Making that video gave me the confidence that I could still try to become a filmmaker."

Emily's family's instinct to video her hospital recovery was correct: in 2020, she produced her award-winning documentary Emily, You Never Give Up. The 15-minute film screened at the Sydney Indi Film Festival. "It had been a dream of mine before the accident to have a film shown at a film festival," she says.

Watch: 1 month after Emily's accident. Post continues after video.

With Emily's brain injury impacting her memory and focus, doctors advised it would be too hard to do a two-year masters degree (Film and Television). But Emily didn't give up, enrolling at Victorian College of the Arts in 2022.

Despite the challenges of her disabilities, Emily thrived. She earned more festival screenings with new projects, including the St Kilda Festival where she was invited to speak at a professional development day.

She admits: "People sometimes forget I have a brain injury, because I've learnt strategies to manage. I'm always setting reminders and making notes. I take extra effort to be organised, otherwise I wouldn't be able to function."

Emily honours all her emotions. "As humans, we can't stay in one feeling forever," she says.

"In order to feel the good, positive emotions, we have to be willing to understand the feeling of our other emotions.

"When I'm feeling sad, I reach out to a close friend or a family member, or I write in a journal to get the emotion out. So, I don't stay in it. I feel it, go through it, and then let it out."

Last year Emily made an ambitious secret goal: to stand during her 30th birthday speech. She worked tirelessly at physiotherapy and exercise sessions to increase her mobility.

Image: Supplied.

"I wasn't sure if I would achieve my goal. It took awhile to get my KAFOs (knee-ankle-foot orthosis) braces. Luckily, they arrived just before my party, but it didn't leave much time to practise with them," she says.

"I was a bit nervous, but also excited because only close family members knew it was happening."

When Emily rose from her wheelchair and stood for 80 seconds, partygoers were amazed.

"Some of you have not seen me stand for a while," she said, beaming. "Some of you have never seen me stand. Thank you everyone for coming and for being a part of my life, because what makes it easier to be disabled, is all the people in my life. I'm so grateful for you all. It was one of my goals to stand on my birthday, so thank you for being a part of my goal."

Emily's legs were braced straight by her KAFOs, preventing her lower limbs collapsing. She gripped a frame in front of her, holding her torso upright with hard-earned rehabilitated arm and core strength.

"Everyone was excited," she says of the incredible feat in September, 2023. "I was surrounded by lots of love and happiness.

"It was funny seeing everyone from that angle because I'm used to looking up at everyone. I lived all my life being tall, but I'm short now!"

In the final year of her masters degree in 2024, Emily immersed in her graduate project.

"I wrote and directed Dance Floor Murder, which is about a young female detective learning to think creatively and collaboratively to solve a case. My film involved 35 crew members and 34 cast members, and features a choregraphed dance floor scene.

Image: Supplied.

"As director, I steered the ship. I had two amazing producers in charge of things like catering and scheduling, so I could focus completely on the story."

Away from film sets, Emily was working towards another secret goal.

Now aged 31, she didn't tell her peers when she learned to roll and crawl; or the first time she walked "penguin-style" with her leg braces and walking frame.

"I achieved walking about two weeks before my last class, which is when we would be presenting our graduate films in a cinema at uni.

"I booked the cinema twice before our last class, and snuck in with my physio to practise walking in that environment."

To the astonishment of her cohort, Emily walked into the cinema when it was her turn to present her graduate film on Monday, November 10,

She slowly edged her braced legs and mobility frame forward, "penguin walking" about 10m across the front of the stage.

"I'm a very goal-orientated person, and two of my goals I wanted to focus on [this year] were making a film I'm proud of, and to walk in my KAFOs (leg braces). And, I've achieved both of those goals," she told her peers.

"I had doctors try and make me believe that I would never walk and improve any function again; and try and convince me not to study here because of my brain injury [saying] I wouldn't be able to cope. And here I am, walking for my presentation and about to graduate with you all.

"I think we are all awesome directors and will have an impressive future. If you ever doubt yourself, remember, if I can do this, you've got it."

Dance Floor Murder (12-minutes) and other Victorian College of the Arts 2024 graduate films will be on MIFF Play for a fortnight in December. The partnership with Melbourne International Film Festival allows the films to remain eligible for festival submission.

Feature Image: Supplied.