News
22 June 2016Beth's interview on BBC's 'The One Show'
ON WHY SHE TOOK PART IN THE JUMP
“For me it was another way to try some new challenges I was learning form of the best coaches in the world and it was just an opportunity to have a go at a lot of different things that I’d never done before.”
ON THE ACCIDENT
“The short of it is, I did a jump and I collided with the end barrier. For me it is still quite a hard thing to talk about and that’s why I’m using a psychologist and processing the accident details.”
“I didn’t really panic at the time. It was only when I flew back to the UK I kind of realised the journey that I’d been on. And obviously getting re-assessed back in the UK I kind of realised the journey that I would still have to go on and the recovery phase, the rehab phase, just seeing the surgeons, seeing the physios, seeing the psychologists there was just so many different elements to it.”
ON WHETHER SHE HAS ANY REGRETS:
“It’s so difficult to answer that....I wanted to try new challenges. If you could take the accident out of the whole process then of course I don’t regret it but it has been a very hard road and I’ve been lucky to have so many people support me on that road.”
ON HER RECOVERY
“When I first got told what had happened and what they were going to do, I kind of put a goal in my head and was like ‘I’ll be back to work in no time, I’ll be doing this, I’ll be doing that’. It was only when I got back to the UK I kind of realised this is going to be a lot longer.”
“The first couple of weeks, every day I was doing something new, whether it was getting out of bed for the first time, walking for the first time, going up steps, going outside, there was something new every single day and Then it suddenly kind of just started to plateau...once I got back home I had to go and live with my parents, I couldn’t go back to my own place. You just kind of think “I’m 31 years old, I’m living with my parents” but they were amazing”
“The first time I went in the gym, was literally walking in a straight line just being able to keep my neck focused in a certain way and getting on a bike that had no resistance for five minutes...when I did that I felt sick. And it was kind of quite hard to take that to go from training on a programme to just being able to do five minutes on the bike and really struggling with that. But the hardest part of this whole process has been the psychological element, dealing with the whole accident and the whole aftermath of everything. Evie my psychologist has been fantastic, she’s spent so much time with me, breaking everything down and working through everything with me,”
“I think people couldn’t realise how serious it was because I couldn’t even deal with it. I’ve always been a very private person about my own life and it wasn’t something that I was able to talk about and it was something I wanted to deal with, with my parents, with my boyfriend and with my close friends. And that was why we kept it so close.”
ON HOW SHE FEELS NOW:
“I’m a lot better than I was obviously there are still things that I’m working with my physios and the surgeons. Just sitting up for long periods of time, I get very tired, my concentration isn’t what it normally is....now I get very tired very quickly.
“I’ve been back at work just part time for the past couple of weeks and by eight o clock in the evening I’m like ‘night, I need to go to bed’.”
ON THE FUTURE:
“I don’t want this accident to define me I want to be able to go out there and do what I normally do. I love working with children, love being able to inspire them to go out and achieve their dreams. Obviously [I’m] off to Rio in the summer for the Olympic Games - I can’t wait. For me it’s going to be very different to be on the other side of the fence...it’s another chapter in my life I’m just really excited about.”
“It’s been a long road, and it’s been rehab every single day but it’s definitely worth it. Now I’m back at work and I’m and doing what I love working with children and inspiring them to achieve their dreams, I’m glad to say that I pushed through it.”
Full interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03yyx08