Today marks the five year anniversary of the day my life changed forever. A thread...
My boyfriend (at the time and still good friend now) and I were out walking, as we always did, for a bit of exercise after dinner. Only this walk changed everything and neither of us were expecting it to.
I still remember how cold it was, the grass was already crisping over at 8pm and I went back into the house to grab my earmuffs - Louis laughed at me and said I didn’t need them. We put on our head torches and bright jackets and off we went. 🚶🏻♀️🚶
We lived in the countryside, there were no pavements but the roads were double width and to see a car was rare. We did our loop, Strava on to track how far we’d gone and all, and as we were on the final stretch a truck came round the corner... 
We got into single file, Louis in front of me, and continued to walk towards the pick-up truck, shining our torches so that we were sure we’d been seen. Louis lifted his hands as if to say ‘oi turn your full beams off’. Then it happened.
I was alone, in a ditch and I remember not being able to move. I was making this groaning noise that I couldn’t stop (I guess because I was winded) and it was cold and silent around me.
I remember a car going past and not stopping to help and thinking - no one can see me here. I tried to hoist myself out of the ditch and I just couldn’t, so I looked up and thought ‘this is it’.
I don’t know how long I was there until a car finally pulled up. (Little did I know at the time, he was the local GP) he ran over (after seeing my earmuffs in the road - I got the last laugh Louis!) 👨⚕️
Another car came through and Dr Ian tried to flag it down, it was a truck and managed to swerve Ian, and the rubble in the road, and zoom off Into the distance.... we later found out it was the same guy coming back to have a second look. He left us... twice.
The next person that arrived was a nurse - I know right, miracles do happen. 👩⚕️ I remember her annoying me by keeping talking to me and asking me questions when all I wanted to do was go to sleep - thank you to that ‘annoying’ nurse for being so brilliant. 🙏
The third person was a neighbour, the lights from his car showed Louis... Louis had travelled a little further down the road and was twisted into the hedge row. I was in no state to say ‘oh btw my boyfriend is around somewhere too’ I had no idea what was going on.
It took 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, it was a painful journey but I remember it being warm, finally! I had moved up to the midlands to be with Louis and his family were at the hospital before we were. But no one knew my family’s numbers and my phone was lost.
A Facebook post from Louis’ sister asking if anyone had my mums number was seen by my sister (at 10pm at night). Can you imagine how my family felt receiving that phone call?
At first, I think to keep my mum calm, the severity of the situation wasn’t put across, so mum and dad talked about coming up in the morning to be with me in hospital for the day. The doctors advised they better come right away, so they did.
I watched Louis go into the operating theatre, he had bones hanging out and they got to work. Then it was my turn. This was just the start of many operations to come for me (and still ongoing 5 years on wahoo)
I won’t go into too much detail about all the injuries because there were so so many but for the first two weeks I was in intensive care and I was dying, no one could figure out why.
Until one day I was rushed down to theatre for a three hour operation. I lay there awake, no pillow on a steel bed while they tried to locate a burst artery in my stomach. I kept annoying the doctor ‘you found it yet?’ And when he finally said yes all done I felt so relieved.
Getting back to my room, on ward 52, the trauma ward, I was so excited to push some buttons to get my bed in a comfy position and get to sleep. But a doctor was there waiting. “We’ve found fluid in your chest and need to operate immediately” 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
I told him no. I said ‘I’ve had enough operations for one day, come back tomorrow, I’m knackered and want to go to sleep’. He gave me a stern look and said he had to do it right away. I felt that chest drain hit every, single, broken rib on its way in. Ouch. 🤛
On the trauma ward Louis was in the room next door and when we were both a little better, we got wheeled into each other’s rooms but I’d always just cry because he had to use a mirror to look at me. He had a broken back and couldn’t sit up. It was so emotional seeing him so hurt.
At least he could eat and drink... 3 weeks of nil by mouth and losing a few stone due to waiting for a tear in my oesophagus to heal. I had to dab a cotton wool bud soaked in water around my mouth to keep it moist. 🙃
The police came to visit, they asked me questions and filmed it. As soon as I heard the age of the suspect I knew who it was. A local from the village who we’d see occasionally in the pub. And guess what he was drunk. Not only was he drunk, he drove off and left us... twice.
They found his smashed up truck on his driveway and him hiding when they broke his door down. ‘I thought I’d hit a deer’ was his first excuse (as I went through his windscreen, I’m pretty sure he saw me).
Louis and I learnt to walk again, I learnt to eat again, we helped build each other back up. I started therapy. I was the worst back seat driver you would have ever come across. I’d scream if a car passed too close to me and my countryside days were over. We moved to the city.
We came up with some of the best stories when people asked ‘what happened to us’ as we both hobbled along on crutches with body braces on. We tried to make it in the Circus was my fave, got into a fight with a shark was Louis’...
The court case came around and I got to see all the pictures of my hair in the broken windscreen, the dents from our bodies and all the gruesome details that we never knew. I sat in the visitors box of the court room with his family behind me and they cried when he was sentenced.
I felt so guilty... I know! He got 2 years and 8 months but did 11 months. This guy CHOSE to get behind the wheel after having 2.5 pints. He changed our lives. This thread is already too long, I wish I could say more about the physical and mental damage he left on us both.
I hope by reading this you will pass on the message to your peers, drinking and driving isn’t worth it. If we hadn’t been so lucky, his life could’ve also been ruined. If there’s one thing I hope to do, it’s to raise awareness that drinking and driving is not ok. At any level.🛑
I am so grateful for every day. I always was but you truly never know what’s around the corner and how it can change your life. Yours and your loved ones health is everything. Appreciate each other and always be kind. You never know what someone is going through. The end 💝
Five years on I’m back walking the same route I walked that night, visiting my old neighbours who looked after me and brought me home cooked meals when I was unable 💖💖💖
And Louis? He couldn’t make the walk as he was celebrating his girlfriends 30th birthday! But over the past 5 years he has worked so hard to get back on his feet and more importantly... his bike 😅
