Maija Vance and Panda the horse before the accident. (Image: Maija Vance / SWNS)
Maija Vance, 33, had been a jockey for seven years when the horse she was riding suddenly slipped and fell on top of her.
She spent 10 days in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, after suffering a T8 spinal cord injury which left her unable to move her body below the waist.
Doctors told her she’d likely need a wheelchair for the rest of her life but within her first month of rehabilitation, Maija began to wiggle her left big toe.
And with every passing week, she could move another centimetre of her feet and legs and, after six years of physiotherapy, Maija can now walk unaided – despite still being numb from the waist down.
She has even been able to take up showjumping again and has won trophies for it in the last few years – while the horse she fell on is also still competing.
Maija, a content creator and former jockey, from Cambridge, New Zealand, said: “I was told by doctors I’d never walk again – now, I can walk unaided, pretty much all day.
“I’m back to competing as well – I could actually ride my horse before I could walk.
“I have bits of gear to help me, like magnetic stirrups to attach to my shoes and keep my feet in.
“It feels amazing when I’m competing and I win – we don’t have para showjumping in New Zealand, so I compete with non-disabled people.”
Maija Vance and Panda the horse before the accident. (Image: Maija Vance / SWNS)
On September 16, 2018, Maija was involved in a show jumping competition, based in Rotorua, New Zealand.
She was competing with another jockey’s horse, Zedsational, on their fourth race of the day.
But the white Thoroughbred took off too early, and one of his legs straggled behind the jump.
He slipped and tumbled over, pulling Maija beneath him – breaking his fall.
“I got knocked out immediately,” she said.
“An ambulance follows jockeys around the course, so it was with me within eight seconds.
“I remember waking up to a whole lot of people staring down at me.”
The ambulance rushed Maija to a nearby hospital, where doctors needed to drain blood out of her “drowning” lungs.
Two days later, she was airlifted to Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, and underwent a procedure to put two rods and 14 screws into eight broken vertebrae within her spine.
She was then sent to ICU for 10 days to recuperate.
“My lungs were still draining blood the whole time I was there,” Maija said.
“I needed the draining tube, a catheter, a feeding tube, a breathing tube, needles in my arm… it felt like the movies.
“I had to lie back on my fractured back, then be turned to lay on my side, where my tubes were.
“It was the worst pain I’d ever experienced.”
Maija Vance in hospital following the accident. (Image: Maija Vance / SWNS)
Numb from the waist down, Maija was told by doctors she’d likely never walk again.
She was sent to a spinal rehabilitation unit for three months, and has been in physiotherapy ever since.
Maija says she was in denial at first – and was completely convinced she had the ability to move and wiggle her feet.
She added: “It’s really hard when someone’s telling you, you have no movement.
“I kept telling them: ‘I’m moving my feet right now!’
“They took the blanket off my feet, looked at them and said: ‘No, you’re not.’
“But in my head, I was convinced.”
During her first month at the spinal unit, however, Maija regained movement in her left big toe.
Each week thereafter, she was able to move another centimetre of her left foot and leg, then her right foot and leg.
Before long, she was able to take a few steps, using a walker.
“Everyone in the room gasped when I made that first move with my toe,” she said.
“By the end of my three months, I was taking steps with a walking frame.
“Not functional steps – I couldn’t exactly get up in the night to go to the toilet – but steps, nonetheless.”
Maija can now walk unaided (Image: Maija Vance / SWNS)
In six years, Maija has managed to build on her work in the unit – and can now walk unaided.
She struggles with her balance and dizziness, but says most days, she can walk all around the paddock and practice on a treadmill.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) say 80% of incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) patients may learn to walk again – but mostly non-functionally.
Maija is one of the few who can walk completely unaided.
The former jockey is competing in showjumping again – as well as riding her childhood horse, Panda, as a hobby.
“My legs get tired more than a normal person’s – but I’m not complaining,” she said.
“I still can’t feel a lot – but I’ve looked into it, and I guess I was lucky.
“I think I damaged the feeling part of my spinal cord – but not the movement part.”
Maija also says she wants to address concerns for Zedsational – who came away from the accident unscathed.
“Everyone thought Zedsational died – but he was completely fine,” she added.
“No broken bones – he walked away unscathed.”