Today marks the 12 month anniversary of the accident, and to mark the moment, I’ve made a video of the trials and tribulations of my year of recovery. I have so much to be grateful for, and feel very blessed to be here, surrounded by such wonderful people. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I realize the title to this post seems pretty grandiose, particularly if you are not a Harry Potter fan, but today I am owning it, because today marks precisely five years since my motorcycle accident. Five years since the day I was convinced that both the joys and burdens of life were no longer mine to bear. Five years since I didn’t die. Today is my crashiversary. … More The Girl who Lived
*Beep*. It is 7am on June 23rd, 2018, and instead of another medical machine in a white hospital room, today the beeping comes from an alarm beside my bed easing me into another sun drenched morning on the beautiful island of Corsica. I rub my eyes after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, roll easily over … More Chapter Thirty-One: A New Normal
“What’s that smell?” Mat says, sniffing at the air as he stands behind my shower chair and massages shampoo into my hair. “Oh I think it’s tea tree oil” I say, breathing in a big whiff of something that definitely isn’t tea tree oil. “No, it’s not,” he says from behind me. He sniffs again, … More Chapter Thirty: Bye-Bye Clive
The surgery to remove the eggshells is a big success. After it, I have no more pain, the UTI’s stop coming, and I can now empty my bladder almost entirely using just my core muscles. Dr Deng reminds me that this straining isn’t ideal and may lead to longer-term problems, but confirms that, all things … More Chapter Twenty-Nine: Why I Write
We quickly fall into a morning routine of emptying, showering, dressing, administering and eating. Tori leaves me an outfit on the bed and goes downstairs to prepare me a fruit salad and to lay out my cocktail of drugs on the table, following a chart she has made for herself and arranging the drugs in … More Chapter Twenty-Eight: Neck-Braces, Tweezers and Egg Shells
The green and brown flashes of California’s mid-summer combine with the elaborate smells of a non-sterile world to overwhelm my senses as we make our way past blurring cars and road signs on the way home. I feel suddenly consumed with tiredness as we pull into our garage, but it’s only two hours before we … More Chapter Twenty-Seven: More Surprises
This morning I am finally switched to a smaller wheelchair and am taught how to manoeuvre myself in it by using my heels to pull at the ground beneath me. It is exhausting and slow going, but the freedom of being able to go wherever I want, whenever I want is game changing and makes … More Chapter Twenty-Six: Time to go Home
“Good morning Lucy”, Dr Frantz walks over to my window to open my shades. With a mane of curly red hair, Dr Frantz is a modern-day Boudicca who visits me every morning to check on my rehab progress. “Your test results are back, and I’m afraid it’s another UTI. But this one is a hyper-resistant … More Chapter Twenty-Five: In Lockdown
It is mid-afternoon – my two-hour break between therapy – and I am sitting on the loo again, where I spend most of my free time. Balancing an iPad on my lap, I fixate on the YouTube video of a gushing waterfall and gently blow bubbles through a straw into a cup of water. I … More Chapter Twenty-Four: I Still Don’t Think You Got It
Today is hard. I feel lonely, exhausted, and embarrassingly sorry for myself. I’ve cried a lot. In fact I don’t think I’ve cried so much since the worst day. The slightest thing sets me off; I dropped my brush on the floor, I can’t get the straw out of it’s plastic wrapper with one hand, … More Chapter Twenty-Three: Riding the Rollercoaster
Lucy (Feltham) Leonelli 