What followed was a period of emotional freefall. In the days following the accident, Jean was consumed by disbelief and grief crying several times a day. She would stay up all night in tears, only able to find respite when she “(could) actually see the sun coming up.”
Her path to recovery began at a spinal cord rehabilitation centre in New Zealand, where she spent four months relearning how use her new body. Tasks she previously took for granted – sitting up, getting dressed, and using the bathroom – became monumental challenges. “It’s just like a baby trying to learn how to balance, how to dress up again,” she explained.
“Just a basic thing (like) going to the loo … I need to count my timing and use a catheter.”
But Jean was never alone on her journey.
Her mother flew to New Zealand to be by her side, friends and family members visited, bringing with them not just words of encouragement but also a reminder of the world waiting for her outside the hospital walls.
Yet, the most profound impact on Jean’s recovery came not from familiar faces but from an unexpected encounter at the spinal cord unit of the hospital. Among the patients was a newlywed couple whose honeymoon had taken a tragic turn. Like Jean, they had been in a car accident, but the bride’s injuries were far more severe – she was left paralysed from the neck down and struggled to speak.
Jean realised, by comparison, she still had the potential to rebuild her life.
