Accident Puts Paralympic Cyclist Back on Her Feet
December 19th, 2011
Is it a miracle? Paralympic cyclists Monique van der Vorst has regained the ability to walk after 14 years in a wheelchair.
Is it a miracle? Paralympic cyclists Monique van der Vorst has regained the ability to walk after 14 years in a wheelchair.
Vorst was put in to hospital following a cycling accident and began to feel electric shock-like pains in her legs. The agony was almost unbearable, but rather than be downhearted, Vorst was ecstatic.
Against all medical expectations Vorst began to feel sensation in her legs after 14 years of paralysis, and shortly after could walk again.
“I still cannot believe I’m actually walking, having sat in a wheelchair since I was thirteen years old,” she told The Sunday Telegraph.
“I called my mum and dad and my brother and said: ‘You have to come to the hospital, I have something to show you’. They came and just couldn’t believe it when I greeted them actually standing up.”
Vorst was an active child and took up cycling at an early age. At 13 a routine ankle operation left her paralyzed from the hip down. Tragically a further accident in 2008 which saw her hit while out cycling damaged her spine and left her without feeling from the waist down.
However Vorst did not let her injuries stop her from being a respected athlete. After her injuries settled she took up competitive hand cycling and went on to compete at the Beijing Paralympics where she scooped two silver medals.
Vorst was hit again last year while training for the London Paralympics and feared she would never be able to compete again. While she lay in hospital she tried to keep her arms moving so that she would be able to use them with her wheelchair, however she started to feel sensation in her legs again, sparking a miraculous recovery.
Vorst added: “Do I believe this is a miracle? I don’t know. I do believe there is something.
“But I don’t believe you can sit back and wait for miracles. You have to believe in yourself.”
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