Category: Injury

Several weeks ago, I had an accident in Tel Aviv. This occurred five days before my scheduled flight home to Sydney. The impact of the accident left me with left side paraesthesia and a burst fracture to my spine. Where my vertebra would have once been a structured block on the CT scan, it was now an oddly shaped piece of cheddar, similar to a misplaced Jenga piece holding up the heavier top and bottom parts of a tower.

Up until this point, I had worked hard for one of three spots for Australian MBA students to attend Tel Aviv University. I was ambitious and driven. I also saw the MBA course as both an opportunity to expand my knowledge, network and visit historical sites. Nothing could have prepared me for the fall. In an instance, I went from young and healthy to lying on a hospital bed hooked to a morphine bag and unable to go to the bathroom on my own.

1. Set yourself a goal

I remember the morning after the accident, I was jolted awake to an aggressive swish of curtains and about 5-6 interns and doctors speaking very quickly in Hebrew.

One of the doctors turned to me.

 “You are from Australia, the land of paradise? What are you doing in Israel?”

“I was testing out the strength of your pavements.”

The room laughed awkwardly, “Okay you mentioned about flying home. We are having meetings on this situation however you should consider rescheduling your flight”.  

After the doctors left, I borrowed a phone charger and called the insurance company to discuss my options to fly home. The operator advised that the airline would most likely not allow me on a flight with my medical situation. The insurance company would also need to verify my medical reports and find a Hebrew translator which they advised may take more than a week.

Suddenly I was desperate. I didn’t have any family in Israel. The thought of spending weeks lying in bed in another country was devastating. I had to go home.

Years ago, my mother had flown to Hong Kong and back for a bone marrow transplant to save her brother’s life. She had flown with holes still in her hips. As a child I had admired her resilience. Maybe it was the morphine that was triggering irrational goals in my head but that morning, I was convinced that I could still go home on day 5.

2. Focus on small steps

My left arm was numb and tremored uncontrollably. It was even difficult to hold a sandwich. So, I started with much smaller goals. I stretched my arms lying down. I practised rolling over to my right. Progressively I made it a combo, I rolled to the right and then pulled myself up with my right arm using the rails of the bed. When I was ready, I leaned on the bed frame to stand on my feet that were still numb. Pain shot across my back and hips while the legs trembled. I cursed and swore at myself, rested and then tried again.

3. Use humour to stay positive

My hospital neighbour was a car accident victim who suffered far greater injuries than me. We were both impacted by sudden setbacks. There were intermittent times of frustration, but we didn’t let the negative thoughts linger too long. We used humour to deal with the pain and found humour in our circumstances. This stopped me from ruminating on my own predicament and focus on going home.     

4. Walking was an outcome of perseverance

Despite the pain, I was determined to walk unassisted. I persevered with small steps back and forth from my bed to the bathroom located two metres away. On the evening of Day 3, I put on my gym music and slowly dragged myself to the hospital corridor. I had never seen the outside of my room. The neuro ward was bright and relatively calm. It was very different from how I imagined it. One step at a time, I dragged myself along the right side of the corridor. I made it to the end and was exhausted. I waited and then tried again. My MBA coordinator stayed at the hospital with me for hours. I was sustained by her encouragement and positivity which gave me the strength to walk through the pain. I got a lot of thumbs up from the nurses passing me in the corridor as they watched me improve.   

Going home

On Day 4, I demonstrated to the doctors that I could walk, albeit with a strange gait. That evening I was discharged from hospital on the understanding that I would seek medical care in Sydney. On Day 5, I was assisted by wheelchair to the boarding gates and walked unassisted to my allocated seat on the plane. The journey was 20 hours, from Tel Aviv to Hong Kong, then from Hong Kong to Sydney. Safe to say I was very much drugged on pain medication the whole way.

From the accident to this point, I had not had any time to cry or dwell on the events that happened. My sole focus was to strengthen my legs to board the plane. When the plane landed in Sydney, I was overwhelmed with tears, I was finally home.

Finding Resilience

What I did to return home may be viewed by some (including my mum) as stupid and reckless. However, I was acting within the limits of my own body.

My mindset before and after Israel shifted. This lesson on resilience was far more valuable than the MBA course I had intended.

All of us will face setbacks at some point in our lives. I learnt that it is how we extract ourselves to move forward that is more important. The fracture to my spine was just the beginning of a very long process. I had money stolen from my suitcase at the airport while I was in a wheelchair and I have experienced a lot worse since returning from Israel. Some would say I am truly cursed. Murphy’s law has its way. I believe everything happens for a reason and that we are all unbreakable. It was a glimmer of hope, perseverance and a lot of humour and compassion from the people around me that guided me to overcome my nightmare and return home.