Jillian’s daughters came from Adelaide, Perth and Barwon Heads "constantly" to be at her side. “And Lorraine travelled to Melbourne to see me every day.” But not every day was so bright, especially when the team of doctors concluded that nerves in her leg were severed. “The skin and bones could repair but the nerves could never regenerate,” Jillian recalls. Then she faced a terrible choice. “It was mine, alone. If I kept my leg I would drag my foot forever and have multiple operations and be in constant pain, or I could have the below-knee amputation, which they suggested as a far-better option for me,” Jillian says. The lifelong encumbrance of a lame foot seemed too much. “I remember thinking, 'I can’t do that'.” So Jillian made the “best decision”, to go with the amputation. "I've never regretted it, either,” she declares. The experience taught Jillian that some things are just beyond the individual's control, and must be "handed over to the professionals". “But I like to tell them, 'I packaged it up in a beautiful parcel and I’m handing to you'.” But some experiences during her treatment just couldn't be handed over. In particular, the effects of the drug Ketamine, used during the amputation, took Jillian down to her lowest point. "It was like the dungeon of the Earth," she shudders. “I couldn’t close my eyes. I saw visions of the most horrific things anyone could see, and I lay awake all night. "There was nothing anyone could do. It was just all part of it.” Jillian spent the following few months in a wheelchair, undergoing a skin graft along the way, before she was fitted with a prosthetic leg. Her recovery included learning to walk on the prosthetic, while regular physiotherapy with an exercise physiologist helped re-build lost muscle.
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And Lorraine travelled to Melbourne
to see me every day.” But the biggest aid to Gillian's recovery came from beyond hospital walls. “Having that supportive network and beautiful family and friends assisting along the way with each step, pardon the pun, was the most inspiring thing of all for me,” she says.
“I don’t have flashbacks or mind-talking about the accident, and don’t talk about it much nowadays. I’m more of a listener to other people.
“I want to enjoy my life now and have beautiful experiences with my friends and family.”
Eighteen months later Gillian's up and about but “still learning and getting adjustments made” to her prosthetic leg. She recently upgraded to a design more-similar in appearance to her remaining left leg, and with a moving foot that helps her get about unaided. "I'm delighted I can walk now," Jillian says. Despite the pain and long recovery, she believes that the accident actually changed her "for the better.“ In fact, Jillian's so much better that she's posting weekly Instagram videos of her dancing with daughter Julia. "It’s an important part of my recovery. The old me worked very hard in my business and I didn’t devote much time for myself," Jillian says.
Jillian learning to walk on her first prosthetic leg.