‘I was losing a lot of blood – I didn’t know at the time that I had broken my neck’
ABEAUTY queen who suffered serious injuries following a horrific crash on the M4 has spoken of her ordeal for the first time.
Darcey Corria, who won the Miss Wales title last year and is due to represent her country in this year’s Miss World, was involved in a crash on the M4 eastbound near Bridgend on January 19.
The 21-year-old, from Barry, was rushed to University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, where she was treated for a number of injuries, including broken bones in her neck.
Darcey spent more than two weeks in hospital before being discharged at the beginning of last month.
She has told how her recovery has been “slow, but going well” and how her outlook on life since the crash has changed dramatically.
Recalling the day of the accident, Darcey said she was travelling back home from Swansea after dropping off a few dresses at a company when she realised that something wasn’t right.
“The car started to spin out of control,” she recalled. “I assumed that I had gone over ice because of the weather as it was so bad. Even the day before, the woman at the dress company had messaged me and said, ‘Don’t come down – the weather is too bad. Leave it’. I said, ‘I’ll come down tomorrow – I should be okay’.
“I think I skidded on ice and then just hit straight into the central reservation and spun out of control. As I was spinning out of control I can remember thinking, ‘You’ll be fine – nothing will kill you. You may have written your car off but there’s not a scratch on you – you’ll be fine’.
“Then my car stopped. I was unharmed, I wasn’t injured. I was fine, I was just a little bit confused. My car had stopped and I looked out of my driver’s window. I was across the two lanes and I could see the traffic coming towards me pretty fast.
“I made the decision that there wasn’t enough time to get out of my side. I took off my seatbelt and climbed over to the passenger side to try and get out that way because it gave me more time. And then as I was climbing to the passenger side I remember looking back to see how close the cars were and as I looked back somebody hit me.
“I went flying. I went through the passenger window, which would have been the reason for my jaw breaking, my facial wounds and my neck wounds. I then hit the floor, which would’ve been the reason I had broken my pelvis and the bone in my lower back.
“I was awake when I was on the floor. A lady got out of her car and helped me and there was a doctor in a few cars behind. So there were people with me that knew not to move me and keep me completely still. I can just remember being really cold and thinking ‘Where’s my mum? Where’s my boyfriend?’ – I was really confused.
“The people around me were trying to keep me awake. I was losing a lot of blood from my neck and I didn’t know at the time that I had broken my neck.
“They were keeping me busy by asking me loads of questions to keep me awake and stop me from falling asleep. And then my memory goes a bit blurry from there – I don’t really remember going to the hospital. It’s blurry for the next two days.”
Darcey was treated for a number of injuries, including a broken pelvis and two breaks to bones in her neck.
She would spend around 20 days at the hospital before she was discharged on February 6. Now an outpatient, Darcey is still receiving care and treatment at the hospital.
“My recovery has been very slow,” she said. “It’s been up and down, really – some days my body feels really tired and then other days I wake up and feel I’ve got energy. It’s different every day. My neck is getting better – the pain has been quite good and I’m not in too much pain.
“My recovery is going well, considering everything that I went through. I think at the hospital I was under the impression that as soon as I came home I would be fine, but it’s not been the case at all – it’s just a slow process.
“The mental impact, however, has taken the biggest toll on me. It’s been something really hard to wrap my head around.
“With being such an active person, where I’m always out and about and not the type of person to just stay in the house, it’s been life-changing. I think boredom has played its part, too. I see people carrying on with their day and everyone can do what I can’t do – that has been mentally challenging.
“There was a point where I got really self-conscious of the neck brace and I’m still a bit now, to be honest. Whenever I go out for food or whatever people will stare and look at me.
“I think it has also opened my eyes on what it’s like living with a disability. I think slowing down I’ve noticed so many more things. For example, certain places won’t have disabled toilets.
“It’s been a real eye-opener for what life could be like as a person with disabilities.”
Despite the challenges, Darcey said that the support she has received throughout her recovery has been remarkable – particularly from her mum and boyfriend.
She said: “The support has been amazing from everyone – from strangers supporting on the GoFundMe page to friends and families who have been cooking for me and, obviously Miss World, and the CEO of Miss World coming to visit me, which was amazing. It lifted me up and made me feel like everything was going to be fine.
“My mum and my boyfriend are the closest people to me and I think it’s been difficult because I have been up and down and it has probably been hard for them. They probably see what I can’t see. For example, they saw me at the hospital and I could’ve died and now I’m okay.
“But to me, mentally, I’m still going through everything and processing what has happened. To them, they are probably thinking I’m lucky that I was so close to dying but ‘look how far you’ve come now’. Whereas to me, in my head, I still have a really long way to go. I think it has put a strain on those relationships because it has been really hard and I’ve been really emotional.
“But they have both been absolutely amazing in helping and supporting me. Going back and forth from the hospital, my boyfriend sitting with me when my parents couldn’t be there, being there with me and holding my hand. My mum and my boyfriend have been my best support.”
Darcey made history last year after becoming the first woman of colour to win Miss Wales and she is determined to realise her dream of representing her country at this year’s competition, which is set to take place in May.
“I am definitely going to compete in this year’s Miss World,” she said. “They’ve told me that I can go in in whatever capacity I am able to do. With that it will be a case of playing it by ear and seeing closer towards the time where my body’s at and how I’m feeling within myself.”
She added: “The main thing I want to do once I recover, and it’s something that I’ve wanted to do in the past year, would be to volunteer in Africa for a few weeks. At the moment I’m hoping to sort that out so I can potentially go there before Miss World. Leave Wales, leave the UK and give to other people. I also got a letter a few days ago from the team of people that helped me at the hospital and hopefully meet up with them soon.
“This experience has taught me that life is so precious. I knew that before but this has just woken me up to the reality of how thin the margin is between life and death.
“It’s crazy – it has completely changed my outlook on life. It has taught me that the human body is strong but not strong at the same time.”