Back in the saddle... rider ‘held together with bolts and screws’
EXCLUSIVE
A LEADING young horse rider is back in the saddle, even though surgeons said she might never walk again.
Alice Begg, 20, was told she was lucky to be alive after her pelvis was crushed in a horrific road accident.
But after months of physiotherapy and hard work, she is riding again.
Alice, who has also returned to her job as a riding instructor, said: “I was determined that whatever it took I was going to ride again.
“Riding is my life and I couldn’t imagine never being back in the saddle.”
Alice told how she was driving from the stables to her home in Romford, east London, on January 2 when the car in front hit another vehicle.
The impact caused her car to veer on to the other side of the road where it was hit by an oncoming car.
She said: “I don’t remember anything about the accident, but it was a 60mph limit so all the cars were going fast.
“The oncoming car smashed right into my driver’s door, so I took the full force of the impact.”
She was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital where doctors discovered her pelvis was completely shattered.
“The doctors said my chances of surviving the crash had been very small,” she said. “The surgeon told me after the operation he had never seen accident injuries to the pelvis like mine.”
Alice, an advanced dressage rider with six competition horses, was in Alice Begg on horse Gizmo yesterday hospital for a month. She said: “I worked really hard at the physiotherapy. Not a day went by when I did not really push myself.”
Despite rebreaking her pelvis when a horse threw her in May, Alice went on to compete in dressage regional finals in August. Since then she has gone from strength to strength. “I’m held together by so many bolts and screws now,” she said. “I still can’t feel very much sensation from my hips down and my left foot doesn’t work properly. But the surgeons have done a wonderful job in rebuilding my pelvis and it is great to be back in the saddle.”
Her mother Sally, 50, said: “It was such an awful accident and we are so relieved that Alice has now recovered so well. She’s made amazing progress.”