What would your life look like if you had brushed your teeth for just ten seconds longer?
In January 2020, 27-year-old paramedic Emma Mickle made a last-minute decision to join her friends on a hike through New Zealand.
On the final day, just ten kilometres from the finish, Emma sat down to remove her wet-weather gear. At that exact moment, a three-metre tree branch fell from approximately 20 metres above and landed directly on her.
In this remarkably honest episode of ListenABLE, Emma speaks about learning to live with incomplete paraplegia, chronic nerve pain, impaired bowel and bladder function, invisible disability and the loss of her career as an operational paramedic.
Emma’s story is about terrible luck, extraordinary recovery and what she describes as “forced resilience”.
Emma discusses:
00:00 A one-in-20-million accident
01:27 The New Zealand hiking trip
03:12 Emma’s spinal cord and nerve injuries
04:39 Being told to prepare for life in a wheelchair
05:42 A hospital proposal Emma cannot remember
08:16 Feeling both incredibly unlucky and incredibly lucky
09:22 Why Emma cannot remember the accident
10:44 How her friends kept her alive
14:06 Arriving at spinal rehabilitation
15:13 The moment Emma discovered she could not stand
17:22 Would Emma undo the accident?
18:33 Bowel, bladder and chronic pain
21:20 Recovery as a professional athlete
22:09 Completing an Ironman after her injury
24:17 Why cycling makes Emma feel normal
25:42 Road racing and time trials
26:11 The dream of LA 2028
26:46 Losing her career as a paramedic
29:45 Living with an invisible disability
31:47 How to handle an unexpected handshake
33:11 The reality of “forced resilience”
34:27 How the accident changed Emma’s perspective
35:19 Living with daily pain
36:35 The Bowl of Uncomfortable
38:24 Vulnerability and a changed perception of risk
40:49 The perfect handshake
Emma Mickle, Emma Mickle cyclist, Australian para-cyclist, para-cycling Australia, spinal cord injury recovery, incomplete paraplegia, incomplete spinal cord injury, brachial plexus injury, chronic nerve pain, invisible disability, disability awareness, adaptive sport, rehabilitation through sport, Ironman after spinal cord injury, Australian Paralympic cycling, LA 2028 Paralympics, disability podcast Australia, ListenABLE podcast, Dylan Alcott, Angus O’Loughlin.
This episode includes discussions of traumatic injury, spinal cord injury, bowel and bladder function, chronic pain, sexual health and personal safety.