Warragul’s Joy Heenan back in the saddle after spinal injury
A fall from a horse on Christmas Eve 10 years ago changed her life, but Warragul’s Joy Heenan was determined to return to riding. This is how she did it.
IT WAS Christmas Eve 2010.
Joy Heenan should have been putting the finishing touches on preparations for the big day. The presents were bought, but not wrapped. That was typical. Joy and her husband had planned to spend the night ticking off that job over a drink or two.
But instead, the then-41-year-old mum of three was lying in a hospital bed in Melbourne, preparing to be operated on. She had fallen off her horse that day in Warragul, and broken her back at the T6 vertebrae, between her shoulder blades.
She was a paraplegic, and was told she would never walk again.
“I just wasn’t organised, I didn’t have everything organised, and I had a 4, 7 and 10-year-old that I had left. And that was really traumatic,” Joy says.
From that one moment 10 years ago, all of a sudden “everything that you knew just flew out the window”.
But getting back on the horse, and sharing her experiences with others, has played a big part of her recovery.
Joy says something which made her situation harder to process was not having someone who had been through a similar experience to talk to. There were plenty of young men with spinal injuries, but not many women, and even fewer wives and mums.
“I was so lucky in that I had been married, I’d travelled, had kids, I had all those experiences already behind me and had lived such a full life,” she says.
“But I just didn’t have any mentors to come home to, or to speak to, about going home, dealing with pain, exhaustion and three kids and a husband, and also how dynamically that changed our marriage too. It just takes you such a long time to adjust.”
That is why Joy now volunteers as a member of the peer support team at Spire, a spinal injury resource and support network launched in 2015.
She says she has become the “horse riding lady” among the team, the one injured riders are referred to if they were wanting advice and support about how they can get back to the pastime they love.
Because there was no holding Joy back — she was riding again within seven months of her injury.
She says her family had some reservations, but she pointed out that no one would have stopped her getting back into a vehicle if she’d been injured in a car crash.
“I did give it up there for a little while, but realised that I love it, and if there is something you love so much, even if people don’t want you to do it and don’t understand why, you do it — you’ve really got to do what makes your heart feel fulfilled.”
Joy says it was a “long process to get the strength to be able to ride like I do”. She works with Making Strides, a Gold Coast facility with exercise physiologists who train people with neurological conditions, and also a local therapist to keep her body as strong as possible.
At the time she was injured, she says exercising the areas affected by a spinal injury — in Joy’s case, she says she “only work(s) to my bra-strap, technically” — was seen as giving “false hope”. But that attitude has changed.
Joy trains a couple of times each week, and is not only able to ride but can also stand with assistance — on Friday, she stood beside her horse, Sandman, for the first time.
“Will I walk again? I doubt it, but that’s not actually what it’s about for me. It’s about keeping strong, and we’ve all got to exercise for our mental health and physical health and that’s what my sessions are with them (Making Strides).”
While riding has been a physical and mental boost for Joy, and also helped her retain the connection to the horse riding community, last year it brought a major scare when she broke her leg in a fall.
She says while it wasn’t the fault of the horse, which was spooked by a malfunctioning sprinkler, it dredged up a lot of memories and emotions for the family.
And it happened two days before she was due to fly to Germany to find a new horse suitable for her needs. Her coach went alone, and found Sandman, a Warmblood gelding who Joy says is “just perfect for the job”.
As well as her mobility, Joy’s spinal injury also affects other parts of her body, from her bowel and bladder function, to her ability to regulate her body temperature.
Then there is how she sees herself, as she says “self-identity I still struggle with”.
One of the things she hopes people become more aware of is accessibility, from buildings, car parks, kerbs and disabled toilets.
And there is also the language people use to talk about her situation. “The interesting thing you find is people will say, ‘you’re so inspirational’, or ‘you’re so strong, I don’t know how I’d cope’,” Joy says.
“Although well-meaning, the reality is I don’t have a choice. I am not trying to do anything to be inspirational, I am just trying to live my best life, and show people that, yes, you can do it, but it doesn’t mean it’s not tough.”
Joy has started blogging about her experiences on her Facebook page, My Resilient Ride, and says social media has been a great way to track the progress of not only her mentees but others around the world.
She has also started a counselling diploma, saying she wants to get back to work and help people with mental health challenges (Joy and her husband, who have since separated, had a local business in Warragul at the time of her accident).
Joy is raising money and awareness for the Spinal Injury Project’s SIP Week, which “challenges everyone to drink all beverages through a straw, just like those with a spinal injury, to help raise funds to find the cure for paralysis”. SIP Week runs from November 2-8.
And she hopes to soon make her competitive riding debut with Sandman.
“The riding for me has been very much an integral part of my healing. I still love riding and it is the only therapy really that mimics the pelvic roll of a walking pelvis, so it is extremely beneficial for anyone with any neurological condition,” Joy says.
“Life for all of us is up and down isn’t it? It’s my one thing I find is for me, it’s not about anyone else but my enjoyment at that particular time, and animals and horses are so healing in themselves.”
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