Former jockey Leah Kilner’s sad new battle after horror race fall forced to her to retire

Leah Kilner was forced to retire after suffering a traumatic brain injury in a shocking race fall and now she is facing a new battle.

Two and a half years on from a race fall that almost took her life, Leah Kilner is faced with another challenge in her ongoing recovery from a traumatic brain injury after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

In August 2022, Kilner was thrown off her filly Stella Turn and trampled during a race at Grafton, NSW.

Stella Turn was euthanised after the race and Kilner was put into a coma at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, where she would spend almost the next month.

Kilner was then in the fight of her life to just survive, suffering severe brain trauma and having her collar bone snapped in three, broken ribs, a fractured ankle, couldn’t see out of her left eye and also had to deal with post-traumatic amnesia.

In August 2022, Leah Kilner (pictured) was thrown off her filly Stella Turn during a race at Grafton in NSW on July 3 and was then trampled by other horses. Image: Grant Peters Trackside Photography

Two and a half years on, Kilner has made rapid progress, despite still having partial sight loss in both eyes, but she can walk, communicate and go about her daily life.

However, as a result of her injuries, she will never be able to race a horse again and due to her eyesight loss cannot drive a car either.

And the ex-jockey admits she was still getting used to the “new normal” of her brain injury when she was dealt another brutal blow, diagnosed with MS.

Leah Kilner was a promising jockey before a race fall forced her to retire. Picture: Grant Peters-Trackside Photography

After being diagnosed, the 26-year-old learned the chronic neurological disorder gradually damages the sheath that covers a person’s brain and spinal cord nerves and it was as a result of her horrifying race fall.

But Kilner says the fresh challenge won’t stop her from living her best life.

“In the last six months, I have really learned to accept my new way of life and I’m not going to let this MS control my life either,” Kilner told Racenet.

“If I want to do something, I’m going to go do it.

“It’s taken me a lot of work with my psychologist to accept that I do things differently and this is how I do things now.

Former jockey Leah Kilner, who almost died in a horrific race fall in 2022, now has a new challenge after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Pictures: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography.,

“I’ve come to terms with accepting where I am and how far I have come and sometimes I forget to give myself credit for that.

“My life these days, I call it my ‘new normal’.

“I’ve had a lot of people asking me about MS and wishing me the best but I tell them they have to remember that I’ve been through a traumatic brain injury and so I’ve already dealt with a lot of these symptoms.

“So my life isn’t going to change too much … I can walk and talk, so I’m OK. There is no use sitting at home and crying in bed, you’ve got to get up and do things.”