Young rider overcomes rare condition to claim the sash

Emily Murray was in agony for years from a simple injury until the little known condition was diagnosed and treated.

EMILY Murray has been a successful rider in the show scene since she was five years old.

She has competed at Royal Shows across Australia and Horse of the Year events since with a team of horses, but no wins have meant more to the 17-year-old than those at the ENSW Southern Cross Show Horse Championships last month.

In August 2018 she fractured her ankle in school sports. It was a simple injury that healed, but she still suffered continuous, excruciating pain and her parents sought medical advice.

Her condition was diagnosed as CRPS, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. It is a little known condition that takes control of the body, commonly after a simple accident.

It attacks the sympathetic nervous system and has no cure — patients can only aim for some level of remission. CRPS pain is constant and unrelenting and often gets worse with triggers that give patients traumatic pain flares that can last from hours to days.

Emily tried to continue with school and showing her horses. She managed in small bursts but paid the consequence for days after with pain flares.

Her condition worsened in 2020, so her family investigated options overseas and found the Spero Clinic in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which treated this condition with an alternative medical approach.

Emily was accompanied by her mother, Fiona Mardling, as she underwent the 12-week program at the clinic.

“The first weeks were heartbreakingly challenging,” said her mother, “and there was times Emily wished to get back on the plane and go home, however she dug deep to achieve the aim of remission.

“She started to feel changes and by mid-November Emily’s pain and symptoms had began to decrease and she was having periods of zero pain. By week 10 she was pain, drug and symptom free and she is finally back home, riding again.’’

Since hearing of Emily’s journey, the family has been contacted by many others suffering CRPS including parents from Australia.

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