north east regional extra | October 9 - 15, 2024
nemedia.com.au
1.
October 9 - 15, 2024
Sarah’s brush with death
◆ REUNITED: After the accident Fernando and Sarah Nickels have a stronger relationship than ever. PHOTO: Rachel Flynn Equine Photography
ON June 8, 2008 Sarah Nickels from Upper Lurg was nearly trampled to death by her horse Fernando. Now she is back on the horse and has dedicated herself to educating other on how to be safer around horses. The accident happened when she was changing the dressing on her then two and half year-old horse, Fernando, in the wash bay when he was suddenly spooked and trampled Sarah. “I had three fractured ribs, a punctured lung, my spleen was lacerated and had to be re-
moved, leaving me immuno-compromised, my left kidney was damaged and my eye socket fractured,” she said. “I was airlifted to hospital where I had three surgical teams who worked to saved my life. “With Fernando at 15.2hh and weighing 600kgs it was terrifying.” To this day, Sarah is still dealing with the af-
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tereffects of the injuries she suffered, especially after her splenectomy. “I have been left immunocompromised so that means I have to be super careful about getting sick and COVID is a major risk for me,” she said. “I have to avoid public transport, planes, office spaces, going to the doctors is scary, I have to be super careful. “From a riding perspective, my core is damaged and the scar tissue on my spleen has created asymmetry in my body.”
Having ridden horses from age 10 and being a trained instructor since age 16, Sarah said giving up horses was out of the question and she went back to training others within months of the accident. “It was one of those freak split second accidents and look I can reflect on it now and I know there were a lot of things I could have done to make that situation safer and probably in hindsight, I could have avoided that accident,” she said.
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