When Isabel Hall walked on stage to collect her degree at Aberdeen University this week, it was a massive step in her remarkable recovery from a horrific motorbike crash which left her fighting for her life.
Sporting the distinctive gown and matching mortarboard, Isabel blended in with hundreds of other graduates gathered at Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Hall for the milestone ceremony.
But the 22-year-old’s graduation is far from ordinary as just 18 months ago she was in hospital on a life support machine following a freak motorbike accident.
“Every step of recovery feels like I’m getting a piece of my life back that I thought was dead forever,” says Isabel.
“Because literally and figuratively, a piece of myself died that day.
“In a lot of ways, I’m not the same person I was before the accident.
“A lot of things have changed. My perspective has had a huge shift.
“But to prove to myself that I’m still as capable as I was before and to really not take no for an answer… I think once you’ve really done something that feels impossible, you’ll never really doubt yourself again.”
Horrific motorbike crash…
Originally from Suffolk, Isabel moved to Aberdeen in 2020 to study for a degree in Neuroscience at Aberdeen University.
But in the blink of an eye, everything changed in May last year when Isabel was involved in a horrendous motorbike accident as she travelled to Cruden Bay.
“I was about two feet over the line of the junction and I tried to pull the bike backwards and I just couldn’t do it,” says Isabel.
“Almost immediately I was hit by a Saab at 50mph – two tons of metal, side-on T-boned at the junction, and I was shot about ten feet from the site of impact.”
‘I remember landing and I couldn’t feel anything’
In all the shock and confusion following the accident, Isabel had no idea about the extent of her injuries and actually managed to stand up.
“I remember landing and I couldn’t feel anything, but I stood up and I went to take a step with my injured side and then just sinking through my leg and I thought – that’s not right,” says Isabel.
“People came running out of their vehicles and told me to sit down saying my leg was broken.
“I asked how they knew it was broken and they told me my femur was hanging out.”
Life threatening injuries…
Unknown to Isabel at the time, she had suffered from multiple life-threatening injuries including a punctured lung.
“I sat down and after a while I felt strange, like I didn’t need to breathe anymore,” says Isabel.
“I felt like I could go forever without taking a breath.
“And that’s when I thought – ah, I don’t need to breathe anymore because my systems are shutting down.
“That means there’s something really wrong here.”
Isabel put on life support machine
Isabel’s instincts were right as she was rushed to hospital and placed on a life support machine.
Miraculously, after three days in a coma, Isabel woke up and was told by doctors how lucky she was to be alive.
In addition to the broken ribs and punctured lung, Isabel had also shattered her femur, broken her tibia and fibula, and suffered irreparable damage to her quadricep.
And as if things couldn’t get any worse, Isabel was then told that there was a chance she might lose her leg.
Major 11-hour operation…
But an amazing team of medics, led by Iain Stevenson, a surgeon at Woodend hospital, managed to save Isabel’s leg during a complex 11-hour operation.
“He said that as he opened me up, he realized that my femur had not just broken in half and come out of my leg but split lengthways up towards my hip socket and my knee had shattered like a jigsaw puzzle,” says Isabel.
“So, as he was dismantling my leg, shards of bone were coming out and because I had stood on the leg as well, I ripped like a quarter of my quadricep and it was irreparable damage.”
‘It was one of the most painful experiences of my life’
Although the operation was a huge success, Isabel was far from out the woods as just a few days after the operation she suffered a stroke.
“It was as a result of my multiple brain haemorrhages just from impact and brain swelling,” says Isabel
“It was one of the most intense, painful experiences of my life.
“I felt as if someone poured acid into my eyes, it had pooled in the centre of my brain and it was shooting down and stabbing me in the neck.
“I was just crying and screaming in the ward.”
Recovering from the accident and a stroke…
Having already been through so much, Isabel struggled to accept that she’d had a stroke.
“When they told me I’d had a stroke I was in complete denial about it,” says Isabel.
“I refused to accept it had happened.
“I think after you go through so much, you just can’t take any more.”
The months of recovery at home proved to be the most challenging for Isabel who stayed with her partner and his parents while she recuperated.
“All I could really do was get up, sit around and be injured,” says Isabel.
“There’s only so much TV you can watch. There’s only so many board games you can do.
“People really tried to engage me or get me to try to go outside but I just had no interest whatsoever.”
‘I thought I was losing my mind’
With no feeling or motion in her leg, Isabel said it took a toll on her mental health.
“For the first two months of recovery, I couldn’t even get my toes to move at all,” says Isabel.
“My leg was just limp, a dead weight that caused me an immense amount of pain.
“So I just chose to sit and wait for it to be over.
“I would sit and stare at the wall or at a TV that wasn’t switched on for hours.
“I thought I was losing my mind.”
But there’s always hope…
But two months into her recovery, Isabel got a glimmer of hope.
“About two months in I was finally able to move my leg,” says Isabel.
“I just managed to get my quad to twitch a tiny amount and that was all I needed.
“That was the proof that I was getting the movement back and that my leg was going to work again.
“I thought if I could get it to move a little bit, I could build on that.
“Once I had the ability to take things into my own hands and start training, that’s when life really changed for me.”
Life-changing gym sessions
Day by day Isabel got stronger thanks to physiotherapy and support from Lewis Thomson who owns Results Gym in Aberdeen.
“It’s one of the few gyms in Aberdeen that’s disabled accessible as it’s entirely flat,” says Isabel.
“Lewis said he’d even be willing to move the equipment if it meant I could get my wheelchair in there.
“In the end, I turned up on crutches just to do simple mobilisation exercises.
“Everyone was really lovely and helped move things for me so I could hobble around.”
Bleak prognosis was Isabel’s motivation…
Whilst appreciating all the doctors did to save her life, Isabel used the bleak prognosis she was given by limb specialists and neurologists as a motivation tool.
“I think a huge part of my recovery is my stubborn nature,” says Isabel.
“I was told that I would never achieve normal function in my leg again but I decided that I wanted what was best for me.
“After everything I’d been through, after all the pain and reconstructive surgeries and drug withdrawal effects from all the opioids they had me on, I decided that I owed it to myself to ensure I get another chance to succeed.
“I think what you believe and what you want for yourself really should come first.
“Because if you really apply yourself, you will shock yourself with what you can achieve.”
Returning to university just months after the accident…
Remarkably strong and resilient, Isabel returned to university just four months after the accident.
“I turned up with a broken femur on crutches, barely able to walk between classes, but I made it,” says Isabel.
“For me, my academic ability always meant a great deal to me.
“So to not know what my future career might look like – if I’d even be able to go back to university on time, if I’d be able to complete my degree or do my studies, it felt like my life was falling apart.
“So I did the only thing I could.
“I just did my best.
“I decided if I’m going to be in pain every day anyway, I may as well do something productive with it.
“There were many times where I would sit in a lecture, watch a lecture, write a lecture, and then I couldn’t even tell you what the title of the lecture was.”
Perseverance pays off
The pressure of studying combined with the effects on her short-term memory brought on by the head trauma she’d experienced, meant Isabel eventually deferred for a few months to give herself breathing space.
But this week, almost exactly a year and a half to the day since her accident, she walked across the stage to collect her degree in Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Hall.
“I got a 2:1 and I was really shocked,” says Isabel.
“I didn’t believe that I’d be able to get that kind of great grade.
“After the brain damage and the stroke and the rehab, it was incredible.”
Isabel’s message for others…
Today, Isabel feels stronger than she was before her accident and even managed to complete a one-mile run recently.
But what is Isabel’s message to anyone else in a similar situation?
“Don’t give up,” she says.
“It can feel awful.
“It can feel impossible.
“It can feel like there will never be a next step for you.
“But I promise it will get better.”
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