PARALYSED BY A WAVE
BUT I’LL WALK AGAIN
Crashing into a hidden sandbank on her paddle board, Jessica Collins landed face-down in the ocean.
Waves were breaking over her and, as she tried to surface, a horrible realisation spread over the 24-year old.
‘I couldn’t feel my whole body,’ she tells New Idea from her hospital bed.
‘In that moment I was just hoping that someone had seen me fall.’
While the terrifying reality of the situation would incite panic in most people, Jess credits her love of the ocean for helping her remain calm.
‘I knew I had to stay conscious,’ the champion surf lifesaver says.
She knew holding her breath was her best chance. Exhaling and losing consciousness would most likely mean the end for her.
‘I thought I was either going to die or be paralysed, and I was happier to be paralysed.’
As luck would have it, one of her best friends, Kisane Irwin, who was out surfing along with four other friends, spotted Jess go under – and, when she didn’t emerge, Kisane quickly swam over.
‘When I felt her grab my shoulder and turn me over, it was the biggest relief. She literally saved my life,’ Jess smiles tearfully.
Incredibly, Jess’ nerve didn’t falter and, as a trained lifeguard, she instructed Kisane and her other rescuers on her safe removal from the water.
‘They needed to hold my neck in a certain way,’ she says. ‘I was telling them to get a spinal board. I know I was bossy, but I needed them to do it right.’
Back on the Gold Coast beach, an off-duty paramedic was on hand, and Jess was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. But again, not focusing on her own peril, Jess was worrying about everyone else.
She was having a weekend away with girlfriends and hated the thought of her mum and dad, Sandy and Peter, back home in Newcastle, NSW, getting the message she’d been raced to hospital.
‘I was so worried my parents were going to freak out,’ she says. ‘I told Kisane to call and tell them to come, but that I was fine. I didn’t want to press the panic button.’
Taken to surgery to fuse the bones in her spine back together, Jess’ outlook didn’t seem particularly ‘fine’, though.
She’d fractured her C5 vertebrae and damaged her spinal cord. Doctors told Jess and her parents she was unlikely to walk again.
But while her family and friends were reeling from a pretty devastating diagnosis, Jess shrugged it off with her now-trademark positivity.
‘It is what it is,’ she says. ‘I’m accepting of what happened, but I also know I will walk again. When Mum and Dad were upset, I reminded them I could be dead. It’s amazing I’m still here.’
And with this incredible attitude, Jess has begun her recovery. A small setback saw her in intensive care with aspirated pneumonia for a few nights but, other than that, she is already steaming ahead and surprising all the medical professionals.
‘She only wants the male physiotherapists because she says they push her harder,’ her mum Sandy smiles. ‘The nurses and doctors can’t get over her courage and willpower. They’ve never seen it before. Jess has always been like this since she was a little girl. They don’t know what they’re dealing with!’
Just three weeks after the accident on May 31, Jess was transferred to a hospital closer to home, where she’ll most likely stay for up to six months.
‘It’s going to be a long road and it’ll be 12 to 18 months before she’s home,’ says her dad Peter. ‘But the doctors are amazed at how far she’s already come. The will to get up and walk is an important part of getting up and actually walking.’
Given the support she will potentially need over the next year, Jess’ best friend Madeline Barlow secretly set up a Gofundme page. The page, Sunflowers for Jess, surpassed every expectation, raising $109,000 in just a few weeks.
Jess’ friends and family aim to use the donations in her recovery ‘in the hope she will again stand tall and face the sun, just like a sunflower’ – her favourite flower.
‘When we told Jess about it, her biggest worry was how she was going to pay back all the money when she walks again,’ Sandy says. ‘She has such a positive outlook. She’s said she’ll be dancing with us at Christmas!’
Jess too has been overwhelmed with the support and love she’s received since her accident – visitors, fundraisers, offers of food and accommodation for her family so they can stay nearby.
‘It’s been an amazing experience,’ she says.
‘Even the [hospital] food is good!’ she adds cheekily.