A woman who was in a coma for nine days after an accident is competing in the Olympic Games.
Rower Georgie Brayshaw, 30, from Wallingford, will compete for Team GB in the quadruple sculls at Paris.
Part of her motivation came from an accident aged 15 which left the 'horse mad' youngster with life-changing injuries.
She said: “The last thing I can recall is probably about an hour before. I remember getting to the place and meeting up with all my friends, and I kind of remember setting off on the ride like through the field, the start of it, but I don’t remember anything else."
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The group had galloped through a field when they came to a tarmac track. She tried to get her horse Harry to trot or walk over the road.
Sculls team are Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Georgie and Lauren Henry (Image: Team GB)
"And he was just being an idiot. And he spun as he hit the road and he slid over," she told The Guardian.
Georgie was taken to hospital by air ambulance and spent nine days in a coma. When she emerged from it the left side of her body was entirely paralysed.
It was only after intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy treatment she got back to what she called "finally being Georgie again".
Georgie, who is originally from Leeds, only took up rowing at university because she was throwing herself into everything.
She moved to Wallingford with her fiancé Ashley four years ago to pursue her rowing at Henley's Leander Club.
Before the Olympic training schedule ramped up, she was also a coach at Wallingford rowing club for a season.
In training with the team with 33 days to go (Image: Georgie Brayshaw)
She is aiming for gold after her success in the GB women's quadruple sculls at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade.
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It was the first time GB had won gold in that boat class since 2010.
Now she will compete in the heats of the women's quadruple sculls on July 27 with the finals on July 31 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
She hopes her story will show people with brain injuries that it does get better.
She said: "I’ve already tried going into schools to talk to kids. Because if you have a dream, it doesn’t matter what your grades are at school, it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, so long as you work hard for it.
"It really doesn’t take anyone extraordinary to do this. I know, because I’m an ordinary girl. And yeah, I have my differences. We all do. But you just have to get on with it.”
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