A cancer survivor who suffered a brain injury in a horse-riding incident is running this weekend’s mini-marathon, just months after she relearned how to walk.
Wendy Flynn (45) is taking part in the Dublin Women's Mini-Marathon to raise funds for the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) – the hospital that helped to rebuild her life.
The Co Meath mother-of-two, who recovered from breast cancer five years ago, fought for her life after falling from her horse near her home last July. She was airlifted to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin in a critical condition.
“I was out riding near my home in Dunmoe when the horse suddenly bolted,” said Ms Flynn. “I fell and hit my head off a post. Luckily my dad and 10-year-old niece Leah saw the horse and came looking for me.
Coma
“The emergency services arrived promptly, which possibly saved my life. I was airlifted to Beaumont Hospital, where I was in a coma and on life support. My family didn’t know whether I was going to live or die. ”
She spent 23 days in a coma before being transferred to Our Lady’s Hospital in Navan where she spent three months while waiting for a place in the NRH in Dún Laoghaire.
“When I was in Navan, I was pushed out to the garden in a wheelchair by my parents,” said Ms Flynn.
“I was delighted to be outside again and to feel the sun and the breeze. It really makes you realise that it’s the simple things in life that are so important.”
Ms Flynn, who ran a naíonra (playgroup) in the Meath Gaeltacht area of Gibbstown for many years before the horse incident, got into Dún Laoghaire last November. In just three months, she learned to become more independent and also how to run again.
“The staff and the facilities are something else. The staff made me feel normal again at a time when I was feeling a bit down and upset.
“I had told my physiotherapist that I used to love running. I had already run one mini-marathon for cancer after my own health scare.
“One day, as I was progressing, he took me outside the hospital and told me to try running. I felt fantastic.”
Less than six months after she entered the NRH, she is getting ready to complete the mini-marathon in aid of the hospital.
“The hospital really needs more funding to keep up the valuable services they give to so many like me,” she said. “It’s such a pity more government resources aren’t placed their way.”
Anyone who would like to sponsor Ms Flynn can do so at: https://give.everydayhero. com/ie/ wendy-s-fundraising