Nine-hour flight agony for Dye's ex-wife

Shane Dye's ex-wife yesterday spoke of her nine-hour ordeal while flying to Hong Kong to be with the jockey.

Karla Langmack 'considered all the possibilities' as she and their 14-year-old son, Nicholas, travelled from Sydney after learning of the star jockey's fall and subsequent brain surgery on Sunday. Dye remained in the intensive care unit at Prince of Wales Hospital at Sha Tin last night but doctors were hopeful he would be considered fit to move today, provided CAT scans of his brain proved clear. 'On Tuesday, we were up very early and then out of contact for nine hours during the flight, so you don't really know what's happening, and that's the hard part,' Langmack said.

'Having heard that he's had the fall, had bleeding on the brain and then undergone brain surgery, it's hard not to consider the possibilities, which might range from him dying to suffering some form of incapacity for the rest of his life.

'So to arrive in Hong Kong and be met by Caspar [Fownes] and told how much he had improved, it was just such a relief.'

Langmack said Nicholas, their only child, had been 'very frightened' after receiving the news of his father's fall and precarious medical situation on Sunday night. 'It's been a huge relief for Nicholas as well,' she said.

Langmack, Dye's childhood sweetheart who spent 17 years with him, said the jockey's condition had improved even further between their first visit with him on Monday night and seeing him again yesterday morning.

'His eyes were much brighter, and he's talking quite well,' she said. 'But he's still very groggy and lapses into and out of sleep. He can't do too much at any one time and gets quite tired, which is understandable.'