Fighting f it, the judo star who battled back from the brink of death
Medal-winner Stephanie tells of astonishing recovery one year on from horrif ic crash
THIS time last year, Scots judo star Stephanie Inglis was excitedly planning her future.
More than half-way through a teaching placement with disadvantaged children in Vietnam, she was preparing to travel around South-East Asia with friends before returning home to begin a graduate career in management.
Weeks later, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist was fighting for her life in intensive care after a freak accident. Thrown from a motorcycle taxi at highspeed when her skirt caught the wheel, she suffered catastrophic head injuries and was given only a 1 per cent chance of survival.
Months of operations and rehabilitation followed – but as the first anniversary of the May 10 accident approaches, the 28-year-old is confident of a ‘100 per cent recovery’.
Doctors say the judoka ‘defied the odds’ thanks to her sporting background.
Miss Inglis, of Daviot, Invernessshire, has finally started the job she was offered a year ago – trainee manager at Inverness Airport’s Enterprise Rent-A-Car – and is determined to make it back onto the judo mats.
She said: ‘I feel like I have been stuck in limbo for a year but now I am getting back to being me.
‘Starting the job is a big milestone; it means I’m moving on with my life. I have something to work towards again and get my independence back. It’s the job I was due to start when I got back from Vietnam. I had it lined up but then I was involved in the accident and everything changed. I’m so grateful Enterprise kept the position open for me.
‘I went from being an independent young woman to having to move back in with my parents and rely on them. It was a big change.
‘In some ways it does feel like a year since the accident; but in other ways the months have gone fast. I can’t quite get my head around everything that has happened since this time last year.
“I’m so glad to be moving forward and am excited about my future.’
Having started judo at the age of four, Miss Inglis won silver in the women’s 57 kg event at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
She has transferred that dedication to her rehabilitation – treating it like training.
She said: ‘My doctors tell me my background in sport has helped me recover. I am used to pushing myself, so I have treated my rehab the same way. They have all been amazed by how I have progressed. They don’t think it would have been the same had I not been an athlete.’
After her final operation in Janu- ary, which saw surgeons fit a titanium plate in her skull, Miss Inglis is determined to get back to judo.
She said: ‘At my last appointment with my surgeon, he said I would never do judo again because it is a contact sport and carries the risk of head injury. But I am not prepared to retire yet. I would like to see what happens.
‘For a few years I won’t do training, but by 2020 I want to go back to the surgeon and have a scan and reassess it. I want to be able to weigh it all up again then. The doctors are incredible and I trust they know what they are doing – but I have defied the odds before and I believe I can do so again.
‘I was given a 1 per cent chance of survival and now I am looking at a 100 per cent recovery. My dad coaches judo so I help him to ensure I keep my foot in the door. I started judo when I was just four years old and was training full-time for 12 years, so it is really strange not being able to do it now.’
She has been told it is unlikely she will suffer flashbacks in the future. ‘I remember teaching on the morning of the accident and going home but I don’t remember anything after that,’ she said. ‘The next thing I remember is waking up in an Edinburgh hospital six weeks later.
‘I was knocked unconscious and then put in an induced coma, so I wasn’t awake to make any memories of the accident and aftermath. I have been told this means I should not have any flashbacks, which is good.’
Miss Inglis is ‘still blown away’ by the kindness of strangers who donated to a crowdfunding page to pay for overseas medical costs.
Set up by friend Khalid Gehlan, it raised more than £300,000 after it emerged she was not covered by her travel insurance.
She said: ‘I am still blown away by the support. I can’t thank people enough. I’m for ever grateful because if it wasn’t for them I might not have had the money to get home and might not be here today.’
‘Now I am getting back to being me’