A rider who spent six months in intensive care following a horrific car accident says she does not care how long it takes, but she is determined to get back in the saddle.
Macy Winter does not remember the accident, on 6 June last year. She remembers the torrential rain that had fallen, after a spell of dry weather, before she left to drive from Kent to Essex for her dad’s birthday. She does not remember hitting standing water on the M2, aquaplaning and hitting the central reservation and a tree.
It took emergency services 90 minutes to cut Macy free from the car.
“I’d been pushed from the front seat into the back; my legs went different ways,” she told H&H. “They gave me a 2% chance of survival; they thought they were going to have to amputate my leg, just to get me out of the car.”
Macy’s survival hung in the balance as she was freed, flown to hospital and taken to theatre.
“For the first week for my family, it was about ‘enjoy the time you’ve got left with her’,” she explained.
Macy had multiple broken bones, and had severed her femoral artery, so was in danger of bleeding out. She spent six weeks in a coma, over her 20th birthday, and it was later found she had suffered four strokes during that time.
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After doctors brought her round, she was put on a ventilator and dialysis machine.
“I was doing better than anyone expected, but the hospital had told my family they didn’t know how coherent I’d be when I woke up,” Macy said. “But I’m fully coherent, fully in charge.”
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The doctors do not know why Macy suffered the strokes but as a result, she cannot move her arms. She suffered a severe infection in one leg, and still has metal holding together her leg, pelvis and elbow.
“I’ve made so much progress,” she said, adding that she has been moved on to a general ward, and went out in a wheelchair last week.
“I don’t feel like I’m lying in bed because I can’t walk; I don’t feel like I’m disabled now, just that this is temporary.”
Macy’s family has set up a page to raise funds for the specialist long-term rehabilitation Macy will need. They are also running a raffle for a £100 voucher for the Rug Works, with all proceeds going to help Macy’s recovery.
Macy, who was studying English literature and sociology at the University of Kent, and working as a groom until her accident, said her main aim is to get back in the saddle.
Everyone at her livery yard has rallied round to look after her 10-year-old Irish sport horse Eddie, and she has been able to keep an eye on him thanks to her iPad and a camera in his stable.
“When the time comes, he will be the perfect one to ride because he’s so kind and honest; he’s the perfect horse,” she said.
“It would mean everything to be able to ride him; absolutely everything. I don’t care how long it takes me, I’ll get there.
“Everyone has been so kind; they treat him like their own at the yard and the horse community has been so generous to me with the fund; it’s amazing.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
