A Michigan nurse has described her horror at realizing she was paralyzed from the neck down after being hurled off a horse during a ride with her wife.
Dawn Rammage, 44, and her wife of five years, Brianna ‘Bri’ Engel, 31, were enjoying a scenic horseback ride on June 8 when Dawn was flung into the air.
The experienced rider and mother-of-one landed on her head and although she didn’t lose consciousness, her medical instincts kicked in and she instantly knew something was wrong.
‘In nursing, I feel like you know too much. So, my arms flew back in a certain posture. I knew I was paralyzed,’ she told WLBT3.
She fractured her neck and was left with a spinal cord injury. She has no feeling from her neck down, but she can slightly feel a small spot on her thumb.
Dawn started riding horses at 16-years-old and is a farrier – someone who trims and shoes horses’ hooves.
‘I was about 10 steps from getting off and being done. And, for whatever reason, the horse bucked pretty good twice and sent me into a spiral,’ she said.
Horses buck or launch riders off of their back when they experience anxiety, excitement or are in pain, Horse Illustrated Magazine reported.
Dawn’s cousin Olivia, who created a GoFundMe page to help with medical and recovery costs for Dawn, commended her for her horseback riding skills.
‘For my whole life she has been an accomplished rider and teacher,’ Olivia said.
At the time of the frightening incident, Dawn and Brianna were enjoying a ride around their yard when her horse bucked after spotting a chicken in the chicken coop, Oliva said.
As of Monday afternoon, the donation page has raised more than $37,000. The funds are set to go toward Dawn, Brianna and their two-year-old adopted daughter who ‘is the light of their lives.’
Her cousin explained that Dawn underwent emergency surgery the same day of the accident and had another procedure on June 10.
Doctors told her there is a small chance she can walk again. However, her physician, Dr. Gianna Rodriguez, the director of the Michigan Medical Spinal Cord Injury Program, said that everybody’s spinal cord injury varies.
Rodriguez explained that there are still some generalities between spinal cord injury patients.
‘The most motor function and sensory function that comes back occurs within the first three months.
‘You continue to regain function in your nervous system at six months and at 12 months. But it slows down a little bit. And they say, at about one year, you sort of plateau,’ Rodriguez said.
Dawn never expected to swap places with her patients after 18 years at The University of Michigan, where she first met her wife.
Brianna said that once her wife hit the ground she went into ’emergency Bri nurse mode.’
‘Right away, within 20 minutes, the ambulance was there. I was coordinating people,’ she said.
‘The ambulance was coming to the back of the yard. We had a little bit of a walk. I coordinated fire.’
Dawn insists she is maintaining a positive attitude throughout the trauma.
‘Life is always gonna constantly throw curveballs at me – always.
‘But you just need to keep moving in that direction and be like, “All right, you got me there. But now, I’m gonna go in this direction”,’ she said.
Her wife has posted many updates on Dawn’s improvements since the accident, as she was seen in physical therapy sessions striving to reach her main goal of walking again.
On Sunday, Brianna posted multiple pictures of her wife and said: ‘Today marks the first time Dawn Rammage has felt sunlight in 3 weeks.’
Her friend, Lucie Ptasznik, also shared an image of Dawn holding up words of encouragement that she wrote on a large poster board.
The statements read: ‘I am Dawn. I am powerful. I am whole. I am well. I will recover 100%,’ among others.
On June 26 Revel Run Equestrian held a fundraiser to support Dawn and her family in an event for horse-riders and non-horse-riders.
The event offered people a spaghetti dinner, drinks and the chance to ride horses in honor of Dawn. All proceeds were donated to the struggling family.