Never Ever Give Up

by Chloe Briffa

I was just an ordinary 17-year-old girl, enjoying life, with a passion for horses, who loved eventing.  I had childhood dreams of becoming a commercial pilot whilst having the odd flying lesson as I was growing up.  I was also hugely passionate about eventing, wanting to event alongside being a pilot.

On the 31^st July 2010, I attended my first British Eventing Event on my horse Paddington Bear.  This is one date that will remain with me for the rest of my life.  Whilst competing, my life was quite literally chucked on its head.  I fell off my horse, landing head first on the ground, where I was knocked unconscious.  My father was pretty sure that I was just winded, telling me to get up. Unfortunately, there was no movement.  Paramedics were already on scene and an air ambulance was called in.  I had a GCS 3 on scene and had blown my right pupil.  From looking at my pupil they knew this meant I had bleeding on my brain. I was ventilated on scene to keep me alive.  I was too unstable to be air lifted so was taken by road to Southampton General Hospital, where on arrival they realised I had a subarachnoid haemorrhage and were not entirely sure if I had broken my neck and back.

I spent 14 days in intensive care in a medically-induced coma on life support machines.  24 hours after the accident is when things went a little pear shaped.  My brain pressure doubled and I was in a bad way, leaving them with 2 options: either operate and remove a section of my skull allowing my brain to swell, or place a cooling line in my groin to cool the blood to my brain down.  Fortunately, they opted with the cooling line option. That evening my parents were told it was ok to go home, if I deteriorated, they would not switch the life support machines off until my parents returned to the hospital.  Fortunately, this was not the case and my condition stabled, although I did end up with pneumonia from the ventilator and a blood clot in my arm…. But hey let’s not do things by halves!

14 days later, I woke up from a long sleep – blissfully unaware as to the chaos I had caused, and how much I had scared the life out of my friends and family!  Being an only child, I am sure you can imagine how terrified my parents were!  They were told to expect the worst if I woke up. The worst being that I would be unable to communicate and would be unable to walk again.  But, what these medical professionals did not realise was just how damn determined I really was and how I was most certainly going to prove them all wrong!

The second I opened my eye, I turned around to my parents and said ‘I love you both’ so that was one box ticked, and that was not the end of my determination, I refused to give up.  I was moved onto the main ward where I spent 7 days.  I had to learn how to sit up again and how to walk again, I had also lost all movement to the right side of my body.  So yes, I was unable to do the simple things like feed myself, as they had insisted on wrapping my other arm in a bandage to stop me yanking all those pesky tubes out!  But fear not…. 4 days on the main ward and I was sitting in the chair next to my bed and a day later I was up on my feet and walking with support telling them to keep that wheelchair away from me as I didn’t need it.

I had slightly lost my marbles though. I would continuously repeat myself over and over again as I had suffered short term memory loss. I also had severe double vision due to the damage I had done to my right pupil leaving me with third nerve palsy.  Anyway, this wasn’t stopping me and my determination continued.

I was moved into a rehabilitation unit where I was told I would be for 6 weeks. Slightly unimpressed with the idea of this, I was not going to let it be the case. With intense physio and neuro psychology tests, I managed to get myself up and down stairs – 5 days later and I was home!  But, I was still lacking any movement in my right arm and was unable to run. But, it was back home to continue my recovery where a few weeks later movement had been regained in my arm. Back to school I went, I sat exams and finished my school year.

We bought a family dog, called Mungo, who took on the role as therapy dog. He taught me to walk again, got me up on my feet and gave me a focus when life was incredibly tough and he also taught me to run again! I spent a few years just trying to get back on my feet and find my path.  Unfortunately, I was given the devastating news that I would never be able to pass a medical to become a pilot, but again fear not…. I had another plan in my back pocket and another passion, which was teaching!  So, now I am in the process of studying full time for a sports fitness and coaching degree, working full time as a teaching assistant in a primary school alongside it, in the hope that one day I will be able to give back to children a fun and exciting education, which I was so incredibly lucky to receive.

My biggest bit of advice is never ever give up. So many medical professionals that treated me and that were heavily involved in my care have said to me so many times ‘we do not understand how you are alive.’  I proved every single one of them wrong.  Do not cling onto all the negative words those medical professionals give you, go out there, chase your dreams and never give up!  One saying that someone once said to me on one of my tough days in recovery was ‘reach for the moon and land amongst the stars.’ It is something that still 10 years on I relate to every day of my life!