Thousands of people across the country sit in front of palm readers each year. However for Charlotte McCarthy and Jak Metcalfe it is something they will never forget.
The couple had gone on holiday to Blackpool back in September 2018. Whilst on holiday they decided to pay £5 for a palm reading expecting to come away with a 'generic' prediction.
The palm reader warned Jak that both him and his partner Charlotte would be involved in a 'car accident' and his partner would be 'well looked after' by the hospital. Just months after the pair spent Christmas in a major trauma unit after crashing with a truck, reports LancsLive.
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Whilst travelling back from Charlotte's graduation on November 29 2018 their car was hit by a truck. Firefighters were called to the crash and had to cut the family out from the wreckage.
Jak had managed to escape the vehicle but collapsed with pelvic injuries as he bravely tried to rescue Charlotte. He was given a 50/50 chance of survival, while Charlotte suffered severe abdominal injuries and was told 1mm more damage to an artery would have ended her life.
In the September before the 'life-changing' accident, a palm reader told Jak both him and his partner would be involved in a crash. They left thinking little of it, other than presuming it would be 'just a bump' as he had recently passed his driving test.
"It didn't really click with me until afterwards when I was in hospital recovering from the crash that I remembered it," Charlotte told LancsLive, "It's surreal really. We were in Blackpool visiting Jak's nan and we thought we'll go and get our palm read and see what she has to say.
"We'd done it before and she charged us £5 per reading, we didn't want to pay anymore than that because we were suspicious, we thought it's just generic. She said a few things. She asked if I recently lost somebody and my grandad had died the year before, but again I thought, is that generic? yeah.
"She went on to say we've both met our soul mate, we'd have a little girl and a boy - we've just had a girl actually, so we're waiting for a boy," Charlotte said. The pair welcomed their baby daughter, Cara Anne Metcalfe into the world in December last year. News of their pregnancy came as a surprise and both mum and baby were closely monitored throughout.
It was later decided that a caesarean section under general anaesthetic was the safest delivery method and 22 people were in the room at the birth to ensure everything was as it should be.
Charlotte continued: "She went on to say to my partner (Jak) that he's going to have this car accident. Now he'd just passed his driving test so we thought she might mean a little bump - people do have bumps when they've just passed their test.
"But then she made another profound comment. She said something like, your partner will be in it with you as well but the hospital will look after your partner.
"Afterwards, we didn't think anything of it until 29th November 2018 when we had this huge accident.
"Last year we went back to the woman and I said to her, you told my partner he's going to have this huge car accident and the first thing she said was 'oh my god is he alright?'
Luckily, Charlotte said 'yeah, he's here, he's right next to me'.
"I think she was slightly shocked herself, it must happen to her a lot if she is legit, but it was quite profound to say something like that.
"When I was in hospital a couple of weeks after the accident, I was in for a few months, it just came to me and it sort of freaked me out. I was trying to think back to what else she said, but the rest of it was like 'you'll be okay financially', things like that, things that could be generic.
"Things like that, it did strike a chord and it made me think 'do I want to go back?', 'do I want to see what else she would say?' especially now I've had my daughter to see what else is in the pipeline.
"It made me trust in what she said. Obviously some people have their reservations and I think the price is reasonable if it's accurate.
"It panicked me more than my partner, and she did say it to him, we just played it down and thought it would be a little bump but then it was such a life-changing incident, it was really as if she could see how our life was going to be mapped out.
"People that have a little bump in their car, it's unfortunate but they just move on, usually they're not as injured as we were. It was as if she could see this accident was going to have such a profound effect on our life going forward and it has, we've got life-changing injuries from it, so I can only think what she did see was right."
Now, Charlotte and Jak are preparing to marry in July and are enjoying life with their baby daughter Cara. The couple met at Firepit restaurant in Rawtenstall and got engaged two months after their accident as they continued to recover.
The truck driver involved in the crash had 12 points on his licence and was not permitted to drive such a vehicle. At court, he admitted careless driving and was fined £1,600. Amazingly, Charlotte and Jak met up with him before his sentencing and shook his hand after he apologised and expressed his remorse.
Speaking in 2019, Charlotte said: “This wasn’t about forgiveness or for us to get angry. We talked about our injuries, he had tears in his eyes. There were five of us in that crash 12 months ago, him included.
“I shook his hand because after all of the above and facing court; I have run out of strength and need some peace."
