Track sprinter Victoria Williamson has said that she was just two millimetres away from being paralysed from the neck down following a crash at the Rotterdam Six-Day a year ago. In an interview with the Guardian, Williamson detailed her lengthy recovery process, and her desire to compete at next year’s Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Last January, Williamson was on course for a spot on Great Britain’s track squad at the Rio Olympic Games but her hopes were ended when she tangled with Elis Ligtlee on the third day of action in Rotterdam. She had a litany of injuries including a large cut to her right side that exposed her bare spine, a prolapsed disc, a fractured and dislocated pelvis, and multiple fractures in her back. But it was the injury to Williamson’s C3 vertebra that worried her doctors the most.
“My back and pelvis were broken, but, actually, the back fractures were quite far from the spinal cord, so that didn’t cause the paralysis danger. It was my neck,” she told the Guardian. “The surgeon measured that break on the MRI scan and it was two millimetres from my spinal cord. Another 2mm and from here down (gesturing from her neck down) I would have had absolutely nothing left, no movement."
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Following her crash, Williamson had to endure lengthy operations, both in Rotterdam and at home in the UK, to stabilise her injuries. With each procedure, she explained, there remained the potential threat of paralysis, which required her to sign disclaimers acknowledging that she may come through the surgery unable to use parts of her body. She tried to put the risks out of her mind.
“My dad said: ‘Don’t think about that – there’s danger with any back operation.’ Obviously, mine was a bit different with the broken neck as well,” she said, later adding, “I blocked that out. If I had paid too much attention to it, I would have been in utter meltdown. It was just a case of thinking differently."
Pins were fitted to secure the injury to her flank but when it came to her neck, Williamson opted for the lengthier recovery process of a neck brace. “They found out about the 2mm then – and I was lucky enough not to have another pin in my neck,” she explained. “The surgeon gave me the option. He said: ‘If you have the neck brace it has to be on solid for four months. If you have a pin in the neck, you can crack on straight away. But if you have the pin your range of movement will be limited forever.’ So it’s a no-brainer really."
Missing Rio and aiming for Tokyo
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