Ruth defied docs and learned to live again after horror smash
A GRANDMOTHER who survived a horrific motorbike crash has defied the medical rulebooks after being told she would never fully recover.
Ruth Keighley, 64, had to learn to talk, walk and eat again following the terrifying accident in August 2013.
But the former nurse is now making the most of her “second chance at life” and wants to encourage others struggling with recovery to never give up hope.
Ruth, who lives in Bearsden, was travelling to a biker rally in Aviemore with her then partner Malcolm Traquair, from Clydebank, when a car veered across the road near Kingussie and smashed in to them head on.
The pair were flung from their motorbike and hit the tarmac – a moment which would change both of their lives forever.
Prior to the accident, car driver Christopher Thornton, 36, had spoken to a friend about being “hopeful of staying awake” and sent them a picture of cans of double espresso in a car passenger seat.
Thornton, from Bridge of Allen, was banned from driving for three years and sentenced to 300 hours of community service.
Malcolm survived the accident, though he and Ruth are no longer together.
Mum-of-two Ruth cannot remember anything about the accident or the four months afterwards, and spent 16 months in hospital recovering from her extensive injuries.
Her leg was so badly dam- aged that doctors thought she would never be able to walk again.
She also sustained a brain injury and a range of different bones were fractured during the crash.
Ruth said: “I remember somebody said ‘you’ve had an accident’. That was all that was mentioned to me. I didn’t have a clue.
“The accident was in August 2013, and the first I can remember was Christmas time that year.
“I nearly lost my leg. I had an open fracture and my body rejected the pin so that had to come out.
“I had lung problems, a fractured shoulder blade, fractured clavicle.
“I went to Murdostoun – a brain rehab unit in Lanarkshire – and that saved my life.
“I had to learn how to talk again, eat again and walk again.”
Determined Ruth, who was a windsurfing instructor, traveller and keen hill walker before the accident, refused to let the incident define her. She made recovering her full time job, having had to give up her muchloved work as a nurse at the Golden Jubilee’s cardiac and lung centre.
Ruth explained: “I had a head injury and fortunately I have recovered from it.
“I’ll never be 100 per cent, I could never go back and work again, ever, which was a great sadness to me as I loved my job.
“But every cloud has a silver lining. I’m actually in better shape than I was even before the accident as I have done so much work on my physical recovery.”
Five times a week, a dedicated team of therapists and