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DEFYING THE ODDS
Meet Team GB star who was paralysed and left in a coma at 15 and now miraculously chasing gold at Paris 2024 Olympics
Her brother would visit in hospital and give her puzzles to help aid recovery
GEORGIE BRAYSHAW does not remember much about the accident that left her partially paralysed 15 years ago.
With the help of friends and family, she has been able to piece together exactly what happened when she was 15 years old.
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Like how her horse came to a shuddering halt by the roadside and she fell crashing to earth.
Those key moments when she was taken by air ambulance to Leeds General hospital – an operation that effectively saved her life – have been erased from her memory.
When she eventually woke up from a coma after nine days, she was filled in on the details of an episode that nearly killed her.
As she prepares to compete at her first Olympic Games, the Team GB rower counts herself incredibly lucky.
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But her recovery and switch to elite sport shows her true Yorkshire grit.
Leeds-born Brayshaw, 30, told SunSport: “Growing up, I was obsessed with horses, all the way through to my teenage years. I absolutely loved them.
“When I was 15, I was riding with friends. We were galloping through a field and there was a road.
"I tried to slow my horse down as it had shoes on and would have slipped.
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“But my horse wasn’t very cooperative with that command. He turned as we got to the road. He slid and I slid off.
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“I don’t actually remember anything after that. I have no idea. I remember probably about an hour or so beforehand.
“It’s hazy for the next 2-3 weeks. My friends, who were with me, rang 999 for an ambulance. An air ambulance came. I was unconscious on the floor.
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“My mum and dad were out with family friends, having a cup of tea.
“When they heard I was going to hospital, they replied: ‘Ah, she’d have broken her arm, something like that, we’ll finish our tea and biscuits…’
“But when they found out the truth, it was pretty traumatic.
"My brain has completely blocked it out. It’s a clever organ. That was quite a traumatic time for everyone.”
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Brayshaw was left paralysed on her left side for about a year but family were determined she would regain as much strength as possible.
Her brother would visit in hospital and give her puzzles to play that required her to use a dice with her left hand.
Essentially, through rehab and physio, she learned how to walk again.
Rowing gave her a physical and sporting outlet during her time at university but she put that on the backburner for a few years when her mum, a midwife, had a stroke aged 53.
But what she went through as a teenager changed her perspective on life and she soon returned to the water.
When she appears in the quadruple sculls on Saturday – alongside teammates Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott and Lola Anderson – her family will appreciate the incredible journey she has undertaken.
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Expect the tears to flow, whatever the result, just like they do whenever she rewatches the squad’s world championship victory last September in Serbia.
Once Paris is over, Brayshaw will turn on the ignition for the family campervan and look at going to Morocco with her boyfriend for an adventure holiday.
Brayshaw, who is the 5km world record holder for the RP3 rowing machine, explained: “The accident made me realise how small life is. You have got to take every opportunity.
“I’m quite a determined person and I don’t like people telling me I cannot do something.
“I don’t like being different from anyone else. Or that anyone thinks that I’m not able to do something. I love proving people wrong.
“When I came out of hospital and went to school, they said I could retake the year. I didn’t want to do that.
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“I just refused any help, I didn’t want to reset. I wanted to crack on with my life and move on.
"It was something that happened, let’s use it to make the future better.”
