My name is Susan. I’m 58 and I work as a teacher at a primary school in South West London.
I was on holiday with my friends. We’d just arrived in St Lucia and we got into our taxi. We got five minutes down the road and were involved in a head-on collision with another car. I remember a huge explosion and waking up on the floor with people shouting through the window that the ambulance and the fire brigade were on the way. They arrived, and we were cut out of the car and taken to St Jude Hospital in St Lucia. At that point I was paralysed and couldn’t move anything except for my left hand, so communicating was really difficult.
The hospital had a CT scanner but not an MRI scanner. My insurance company in London weren’t happy with my diagnosis so I was medevacked to Health City in Grand Cayman after two nights. I then had an MRI scan that showed I had a severe spinal injury and needed an operation immediately so that my spinal cord could be saved. The following day I had a six-hour operation where two titanium rods were put into my spine.
When I came round the consultant came to see me, and he seemed really pleased with the operation. My prognosis is pretty good. I should be able to make a reasonable recovery after a lot of rehabilitation, so I consider myself extremely fortunate. I’m lucky that I was medevacked to a facility that was able to help me, and that I got the treatment I needed so quickly.
I spent just under a month at Health City in Grand Cayman, before I was flown back to London and went to St George’s Hospital where I was really fortunate to get onto their rapid rehabilitation programme. I was at St George’s for three and a half weeks, working on the rehab, the walking, moving my right side. Then I was very lucky to come to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore. I’ve been here for four weeks now.
When I arrived, I was fortunate enough to have a bed that overlooked Horatio’s Garden. My first afternoon here was in February, but it was a really lovely, sunny day. I came out into the garden on my walking frame, sat on a bench and read – it was just so lovely and so peaceful. You could hear the birds and the fountains, and it just made me feel more normal again.
I use the garden daily. It’s always my route to the physio – you can either go through the hospital or come through the garden, so that’s my daily walk. I also do a few circuits in the evening after supper. It’s just such a lovely place.
I live in South West London. On a good day it takes about 50 minutes to get here but on a bad day, Friday afternoon in rush hour, it takes about an hour and a half. I’m fortunate that a lot of my friends have made the effort to come and see me here. It’s been brilliant because we have the garden pods, which we’ve used a lot, and the gardens. It’s just such a nice place to bring people, it’s not like being on a hospital wards with lots of noise and everything else that goes on there. You come out into the gardens and it’s so peaceful and tranquil.
As well as the gardens, we have the garden room. I’ve done so many activities there that I’ve never done in the past. We’ve done pottery – I made a pot and a plate and even an olive dish! We had an evening when we had a singer that came in and everyone was encouraged to join in. I’ve also done quite a bit of painting and some sewing, sewing some cushions – I’m not sure they’re ever going to go on display but I had a go! Every day there’s something different. It’s great to have the opportunity to move away from the ward and away from the physical rehabilitation that everyone is doing and do something more mindful, and also to talk to the other patients and the volunteers.
There are so many volunteers here who give up their time and have been so fantastic and I’ve done so much with them in the garden room. It’s so nice, it’s such a lovely environment. It’s peaceful and it’s just a nice place to have a cup of tea or coffee and a piece of cake.
When you’re in a hospital ward there’s lots of noise, it’s very hard to relax. When you come into the garden the first thing is the quiet and the peacefulness, so you really get the opportunity to relax your mind and relax your body. I think that’s so valuable in the healing process. I think just being around nature, the plants and the birds, it gives you a sense of hope and happiness and wellbeing.
After leaving Stanmore I’ll be going home and continuing my rehab there. Then I’m really hoping to go back to school and see my lovely Class Five children again. I won’t be able to go back as a class teacher but they’ll find me a cameo role for this term, and who knows what the future holds!
I’ve been in four hospitals following my spinal injury and I’ve also been in other hospitals in my life, but I’ve never seen anything like Horatio’s Garden. It’s really special: the way it’s been designed, the way it’s so wheelchair friendly, the tranquillity it offers, the concept of the pods where you can take yourself away from the ward and just read but still be part of the garden – it’s inspirational. It’s a really incredible place and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to come here.
