Trapeze artist is back in the ring after breaking neck in fall
Gutsy 20-year-old circus act returns just eight months after injury
Brave circus entertainer Megan Christian is back in the Big Top eight months after a horror fall which broke her neck.
The fearless 20-year-old slipped from her trapeze and crashed to the ground as a horrified audience looked on.
But now she is back in the ring performing with Santus Circus again.
Circus spokesman Chris Barltop confirmed this week: “Yes, Megan is back in the air. She’s a gutsy girl but that’s circus people for you. The lady is the third generation of her circus family and is giving beautiful performances despite the un-nerving accident and despite the pin which was inserted in her neck.
“I’m not sure that her surgeon would approve!”
He added that Megan, who lives in Sittingbourne, was back in time for a new season because “she loves her work and her audience.”
The aerialist plunged 18 feet during an evening performance at Barton’s Point Coastal Park, Sheerness, at the end of July last year. Colleagues and offduty nurses dashed into the ring as she lay motionless on the ground.
Paramedics also treated her at the scene. As fears grew she may have damaged her spine she was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital and King’s College Hospital, London.
The rest of the show was cancelled and the audience sent home.
After the fall she still manage to reply to well-wishers on social media saying: “Thank you for everyone’s well wishes and I’m sorry for those that came tonight and had to witness it.
“I hope it doesn’t deter anyone from coming to watch our great show. And as for me I’ll be back and better than ever.”
Spokesman Mr Barltrop defended the lack of a harness or safety net at the time. He said: “Safety nets and safety lunges are not always appropriate. If a performer is leaving contact with the trapeze to fly through
the air, they would use a safety device.
“But in normal circumstances on a static trapeze, it would actually handicap the performer. As with many sports, there’s risk. But although any such events naturally make headlines, accidents are rare in circuses.”
The accident came shortly
after circus boss Roger Santus, who spent seven months in a coma, returned to the Big Top despite being unable to walk.
The 63-year-old was hit by a car after falling off his pushbike the year before while the circus was marooned in a field in Sittingbourne during a Covid lockdown and unable to travel.