I survived a freak riding fall... but it completely wiped out my memory
Horsewoman’s four-year fightback from post-traumatic amnesia
POLLY Williamson has no recollection of the riding accident that nearly took her life. The former event rider, 47, sustained a severe head injury and three broken vertebrae in a fall four years ago.
Her devastated family was told that she might not survive, and that, if she did, there was a risk of brain damage.
But Polly pulled through – and her determination to battle back to full health, even learning how to walk again, has won the admiration of many, including her friend Princess Anne. The Princess Royal has even contributed to a book Polly has written about her ordeal, in which she tries to make sense of what she went through.
After her accident, Polly suffered from post-traumatic amnesia, a state of confusion that can follow a head injury. It leaves the victim unable to remember what happened even a few minutes before and can cause frustration and distress.
Mother-of-two Polly says: ‘After my accident, I thought Polly Williamson had died. I didn’t have the clarity of mind to work out I was still the same person.
‘I could almost speak, communicate and feed myself but I couldn’t hold information for longer than a few seconds. I have no memory of that period. It’s just a blank.’
Polly’s life changed in December 2011 when she was out riding at her home in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, where she trains young riders.
Her horse fell, and as the animal scrambled to right itself, one of his hooves caught her on the head.
Polly was rushed to Frenchay Hospital near Bristol, where she spent 11 days in intensive care in an induced coma.
She then spent three months in a specialist brain-injury unit where she painstakingly relearned how to walk, wash herself and even make a cup of tea. When she was allowed to go home to her husband Toby, a former equerry to the Queen, and sons Freddie and Jack, now aged ten and six, she says she felt ‘devoid of emotion’.
‘To this day I have no memory of the accident,’ says Polly, who was hurt despite wearing a riding hat. ‘When I got home there was no sense of celebration. I felt cut off.
‘My body shut out everything but the need to recover. In so many ways I seemed normal. I could do things, my mannerisms were the same, but inside I was empty.’
Toby showed Polly email updates he had been sending to family and friends to help her make sense of the accident.
Polly says: ‘I remember trying to read them, but my brain was too muddled. I couldn’t concentrate for long enough to unscramble the words and place them in any order.
‘Some six months later I picked up the emails again, read them and had some understanding of the missing seven weeks from my life.’
Little by little, Polly’s emotions returned. ‘In autumn 2013, Freddie won first prize in an art competition,’ she says.
‘As they read out his name, my heart soared with pride. Although right from the beginning I had a deep, instinctive feeling of the importance of getting better for my children and Toby, that was the first time I was consciously aware of feeling an emotion.’
It was around this time that Polly, prompted by a friend’s suggestion, decided to write a book about her experience. Where Did I Go? charts how for up to two years after the accident she lost her identity.
The Princess Royal, whom Polly first met as a teenager when exercising her pony on the Princess’s Gatcombe estate in Gloucestershire, has written the foreword.
Polly, who used to compete against Princess Anne’s daughter Zara, says: ‘I’ve always admired her straight-to-the-point manner. She’s extremely articulate and I have a lot of respect for her.
‘The eventing community is small and tight-knit. We’re all friends and there’s a huge camaraderie between us all.
‘I’d regularly spend time with Zara in the practice ring before doing the cross-country, comparing notes about one fence or other. Sometimes the Princess Royal would be there altering the heights of the fences.’
In her introduction, Princess Anne says: ‘What happened to Polly could have happened to any of us [who ride] and her efforts to tell us what she went through and how she continues to find her way back is searingly honest, but hugely encouraging for others who have suffered head injuries.’
Four years on, Polly has regained her driving licence and returned to teaching riding – but decided while she was recovering to stay out of the saddle. She says: ‘When you ride you know of the dangers but you never expect an accident to happen to you. It did happen to me and I feel incredibly lucky to have survived.’
Where Did I Go? is published by Crumps Barn Studio on April 30, priced £8.99.