Sally Cowman had been an elite Australian cyclist living and competing in Italy, France and Switzerland. Nearing the top of her game, she was destined for greater achievements in the sport. But that all changed in a split-second.
The 11th of March 2007 is the date she will never forget. It was the day of the accident. The day that everything her life, as she knew it, ended.
In a sprint to the finish, she came unstuck and ended up in intensive care with a collar bone fracture and bleeding and swelling on her brain. She was in ICU for four days and then in a high dependency ward for many weeks.
She remembers almost nothing of her time in the hospital. Her mother told her she had many visitors and the room looked like a florist shop, but she only remembers one visitor. The one thing that stuck with her is a thought that she had to focus on her recovery.
After the hospital, she lived with her parents. She had constant migraines, short term memory loss, double vision, slurred speech, numbness down her left side and struggled to maintain her balance.
Sally’s story of recovery was inspirational and it changed her life forever. Despite the effort, she wasn’t able to return to top-level cycling but studied to become a nurse.
Today, Sally works as a nurse in Canberra, with a special interest in helping patients suffering from brain injury. She exercises daily, enjoying jogging and mountain bike riding.
Pictured above: In thanking Sally, the club presented her with a copy of our Farmer’s Market Recipe Book.
