Five months ago today, I broke my back in a skiing accident. Had it not been for the circumstances—I was skiing alone at night—the fall was largely unremarkable. I simply caught my ski on a rock that lay beneath the surface. Skiers know this type of hazard well, it even has it’s own name—shark. Sharks have a nasty habit of causing serious damage and this one was no different, spinning me 90 degrees and then catapulting me backwards into the air. My fall was stopped by an immovable object, fracturing my Sacrum and 12th Vertebrae in the process. While the adrenaline didn’t mask the pain, a survival instinct kicked in, and I somehow self-rescued, getting myself back to the car and ultimately off to the hospital.
I’m incredibly lucky. Following a tense weekend of tests and scans, I was discharged from the hospital with a decision from the region’s top spine doctors to let time and rest heal the damage instead of an invasive operation. The direction of the fracture left my spinal cord untouched, so I could look forward to a full-strength recovery.
It was the beginning of March when I got the green light to start exercising again. I’d gone through about 20 rounds of physio and multiple follow-up scans to get to that point. We’d had a great Winter, which was hard to sit on the sidelines for, but I was happy to put the season behind me and switch my mind to the sport that rules them all, for me anyway—running.
Wings For Life World Run
I’ve always enjoyed following the Wings For Life World Run. I admire the charity element, which sees 100% of the entry fees donated to spinal cord research, and love the unique concept, with no official finish line. Instead, a chaser car sets off 30 minutes after the start, with your run only ending as it speeds past you.
While I’ve always accepted the risks associated with the sports I take part in, I never considered how close I might come to need the help of such research. Determined that I wanted to take part this year, I laced up my shoes on Sunday and joined 184,235 others, running simultaneously wherever we were in the world. A smile masked my pain—in my legs from a lack of training—and I ran feeling especially grateful that I could be there taking part in a sport that I love.
Collectively we raised €4.1m for spinal cord research—an incredible amount. Witnessing firsthand the work doctors do surrounding back injuries and knowing the razor-thin margins around how severe an accident may be, elevates this cause a million times to me.
Running is a powerful force on any given day. Running for those just gave me that much more.
