A female jockey left critically injured after being thrown from a horse has spoke of her miracle recovery as she’s released from hospital.
Leah Kilner, 24, was riding at the Clarence River Jockey Club meeting in Grafton, NSW, about 75m from the finish in front of her family when the accident took place in July.
She was flown to Princess Alexandra Hospital, where she has remained a patient, and initially placed into an induced coma.
Now, less than two months later, Ms Kilner has taken to Instagram to thank friends and family for support during the arduous recovery.
“Wow who knew I’d be legitimately walking out of here and alive!” she began.
“I bet if you asked those around me in the first couple of days it may have been a grave ‘I’m not sure …’”
“I’m here to tell the crazy story and thankful for all the people that have been here to support me and all the people that have sent a message, a prayer, anything at all, it’s all helped!”
Ms Kilner went on to detail the extent of her serious injuries and just how she handled the reality of being unable to do tasks she once could.
“Apart from the severe head/brain trauma I had a collar bone snapped in three, broken ribs, a small fracture in the ankle, my whole left side extremely weak and still tingly, even a closed left eye, which has me left with only 25 per cent vision,” she said.
However, she said some of the worst injuries weren’t purely physical.
“We won’t forget the post traumatic amnesia I even attempted throwing myself out of bed to ‘wake myself up’,” Ms Kilner said.
“However I’ve only had to look around and think and remember of others to realise that I’ve actually been extremely lucky throughout all of this.”
She also thanked the team of healthcare workers who helped aid the mammoth recovery so far.
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