CB68 Season update: 2018 STARTED FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE IN INTENSIVE CARE

May 24, 2018

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 2869 times

Caroline Buchanan sat silently in the passenger seat next to her fiance, struggling to breathe and hitting the scariest point in her life as she turned to her childhood friend and said.. "Im not ready to die" On the outside she was calm. Silent and focused - just like she is before a BMX race. She stayed like that for 5 hours until she got transferred to the city hospital.

On the inside her body was a mess. A broken nose, broken sternum, two collapsed lungs and dangerous bleeding around her heart.

"I was running on adrenaline. About 30 minutes outside of Canberra the ambulance guy called the hospital and he had a shaky, nervous voice," Buchanan said. "If you're a paramedic you've seen a lot of things and they handle themselves so well. I thought if he's nervous ... that's when I knew it was life-threatening."

The two-time Olympian and eight-time world champion was at a friend's farm when an off-road buggy rolled and caused the injuries. The driver was OK but Buchanan was in debilitating pain and struggling to breathe. She knew something was seriously wrong and that's when she started to fight.

"I couldn't talk because I knew I would panic. So I went into a breathing meditation of breathing ... if someone was talking to me I didn't hear them. If I panicked, that would have put extra pressure on my organs and who knows," an emotional Buchanan said speaking about the accident for the first time."In those situations, you've just got to fight. You've got no option."

Arriving to Canberra via ambulance, they drained 2.5 litres of blood and fluid from her lungs over three days and she spent four days in the intensive care unit.

Buchanan is framing this as a positive story, one of rebuilding her body, instilling a belief she can overcome any adversity and, remarkably, helping her to push new boundaries on her bike

"I'm happy that situation wasn't any worse and I've got opportunities to continue my career and ... to just live," Buchanan said.

"When life is so fast, you don't always appreciate little things. I remember sitting in hospital and watching the sunset. It's just genuine gratefulness. I know I survived that accident. So in a way I know the forces involved in that accident can never happen on a bike. I know the limit for my body, I know I can heal. Which I guess makes my return to sport and the new boundaries I want to push a bit easier now. I know that if I win another world title, it's going to mean more than anything that I've ever achieved."

REHAB & RETURN TO THE BIKE

The end of the tunnel is bright for getting back on my bike in 4 weeks. 5 and half months off my bike has been quite the challenge to say the least.

The biggest hurdle I faced throughout this process has been going in for my 3 and half month checkup. Which was meant to clear me to be fit to return to sport. However it was quite the opposite and I was forced to make the decision for my health and future career to go under the knife again for my 4th surgery of the year. The surgery procedure consisted of a plate and 12 screws being inserted into my chest and brace by sternum fracture back together.

For every athlete who goes through injuries there are many dark hours and down days. I have been keeping my self busy with rehab, cardio, general leg strength, wedding planning, podcasts, audio books, sponsorship contracts, writing a kids book, media and pr.

"My personal growth, mindset and the adversity of everything now excites me for whats to come, this comeback is my biggest challenge yet."