A woman was airlifted to hospital after being crushed by a horse in a horror fall.
Lucy Croucher was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital after coming off her horse and being crushed while trying to jump a fence in Horton, near Nantwich in January this year. At first, doctors feared Lucy, 21, who had no feeling in her left leg, was paralysed.
Lucy, who has ridden since she was 18 months old, said: “We went to jump a fence and the ground was really boggy. The horse sank in the mud and we both went over. He’s a big horse at 18 hands and very heavy.
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"He landed on top of me and completely crushed me. It was a horrible experience and one I would never want to live through again. I passed out and when I came to there was the worry that I couldn’t feel my legs.”
She added: “At first doctors thought I might have damaged my spine, but instead I have been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder which means I just can’t feel my left leg.
"The nerves in my spine have been damaged by the trauma and they’ve not rebooted. The doctors think the feeling might come back at some point but no-one knows for sure.”
The trainee teacher spent five weeks in hospital but managed to get back in the saddle just eight weeks after the accident. She will be competing for the first time since in the incident at the International Side Saddle Show in Aintree this weekend.
She will feature in the latest episode of 999: Critical Condition on Wednesday. Lucy said: "I got back on Mambo after eight weeks. It was terrifying but good to be back in the saddle again. I have to adapt and change the way I ride and get on and off because I can’t feel my leg properly but I am determined it won’t stop me doing what I love.
“I had great care every step on the way at Stoke and I keep bumping into the student nurses who took care of me on campus at university who still ask me how I am doing.”
999: Critical Condition will be on Channel 5 on Wednesday, May 24 at 9pm.
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