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Neighbours' Madeleine West speaks about her freak accident that changed her career forever.

In 2002, Australian actress, Madeleine West was standing on the sidewalk in Sydney’s Oxford street one rainy evening. Then she was hit by a bus. The impact caused a brain haemorrhage and fractured her skull.

“I was thrown quite a distance, landed on my face and skidded along the ground,” West said in an interview with The Weekly Review.

At the time of the incident, West was playing much-loved character, Dee Bliss on Australian soap classic, Neighbours.

Dee’s former flame, Toadfish ‘Toadie’ Rebecchi is now in a wheelchair. Post continues after video…

Video via Channel 11

“Apart from breaking a bunch of teeth and blowing out all the blood vessels in my eyes, I had a massive scab and big scar. When the doctors let me see myself in the mirror for the first time, my immediate thought was, ‘My acting career is over’ and I was ready to chuck it.”

West, now 38, says the accident put her character’s role in the show on hold.

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“It was two sex workers who found me and helped me and put tissue paper to my head until the ambulance arrived, and then they disappeared into the night,” West told The Weekly Review.

“I did some interviews following my recovery and put it out that I’d really like to thank these women but no one ever came forward.”

West staged a comeback in 2008 with a leading role as Tony Mokbel’s girlfriend Danielle McGuire in Underbelly.

“I got what I like to think were my first acting plaudits. People were able to appreciate that I was capable of more than playing the blonde nymphet with a big smile who’s wearing a bikini for no particular reason,” West told The Weekly Review

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Since Underbelly, West has been busy popping out some humans. Six humans in fact. In eight years. Yep, you read that correctly, West has six children under eight years old, a subject she recently used for her new book.

“Every morning I set the alarm 15 minutes early so I have 15 minutes of quiet time to focus and write my list of goals for the day,” West tells The Weekly Review of how she manages her chaotic world.

“When you enter parenthood, you can be surprised at what you are capable of.”