As she admits today, hitting the water was like hitting a wall. Read her shocking story
A woman has been confined to a wheelchair after falling off a 15-metre bridge to dive into a river, the Daily Mail reports. 22-year-old Libbey Sinden injured her spine, was confined to a wheelchair for 4 months and had to learn to walk again.
Last July she and some friends decided to jump off the bridge into Britain’s River Lune to cool off. Although she was nervously looking down before the big drop, she nevertheless made the decision to dive. As she admits today, “hitting the water was like hitting a wall.”
The fall of the woman from Preston, Lancashire, was captured on video, where she can also be seen struggling in the water shouting: “I hit my back”.
The 22-year-old, who works in the health sector, lay in the water in agony for three and a half hours before rescuers helped her. She was rushed to Preston Royal Infirmary, where she underwent a six-hour operation on her spine.
Today, she is speaking out and begging young people not to copy her, as she says jumping off bridges and cliffs into water could change their entire lives. “I was lucky because I wasn’t paralyzed,” she says excitedly. “Many people often jump off the bridge. I saw several people jump from it, including children, and they were perfectly fine. It wasn’t until I jumped that I realized how high it was. I decided to give it a try, but I was just unlucky. My message to other people is that it can happen to anyone at any time and that one small decision can change your whole life. Don’t do it. Everyone makes mistakes and I want to make citizens aware“, he adds.
Firefighters had to set up an entire company to get her out. “I waited in the water. I managed to swim from one side to the other. I got to the shallowest spot and waited there“, the 22-year-old recalls. Almost a year after the incident, she herself hopes that her life will return to a normality again. To start running, walking her dog. In fact, as she explains, her dog was one of the main motivations for her to get well. “My friends have been incredibly supportive, I couldn’t have done it without them and my family. I live with a rescue dog from Portugal who has been incredibly helpful during my recovery“, ends up.
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