Mum has spent months in hospital following ‘freak’ bike accident
ZOE Caines was on one of her regular motorcycle rides with her best friend when she hit a speed bump which caused her bike to wobble. As a seasoned motorcyclist, Zoe said this little blip in a ride would usually lead to a small fall onto the road.
Under usual circumstances she would have got straight back onto her feet, hopped onto her motorcycle and probably never thought about it again.
But, unfortunately, that motorcycle ride on Sunday, September 10, turned out to be one she will never be able to forget.
Zoe, 41, from Gwaun-cae-gurwen, was riding through Treorchy with Michelle Chamberlain as part of the GS Trophy UK Qualifier, an annual motorcycling event which promised two funfilled days of riding around the beautiful Welsh mountains.
The pair had entered in the novice category and spent the previous day offroad biking on much more treacherous terrain.
But misfortune struck when Zoe hit a speed bump on the road the following day, slid and hit the railings of a nearby bridge.
“At that moment in time, I just remember being in excruciating pain and the next thing I remember, Michelle called my name and I opened my eyes and I’m in the river, looking at a severed finger that’s hanging on in my glove finger.”
In what she described as a “freak accident,” Zoe’s bike had wedged into the railings before speeding up and flipping her in the air. As she fell, she hit multiple poles of the bridge and landed on pipes which had been installed across the river before falling into the water.
“I tried to get out of the water because it was flowing through my helmet and I was nearly drowning. Luckily, I had an adventure helmet so it wasn’t closed. But then I realised none of my limbs were working. The next thing I remember was my friend pulling me up onto the stones on the side of the river,” said Zoe.
The fire service was the first of the emergency services to attend the scene, said Zoe.
That day, the Tour of Britain was due to pass through Treorchy and Zoe’s accident took place on the route. The cycle race was halted and followed an alternative route due to the emergency services’ presence for Zoe.
Following the fall, Zoe had a compound fracture in her leg, a broken ankle, had “smashed her kneecap to smithereens”, a broken breastbone, two broken wrists and two broken vertebrae, as well as one severed finger. She was sedated at the scene and airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff before undergoing two surgeries over
consecutive days, each lasting more than eight hours. When she woke up again, she had “a tube down [her] neck” and both arms were hanging from poles, said Zoe.
The mother-of-four woke up on Wednesday night with her mother and sister at her side and they explained that three days had passed since the accident.
“I didn’t know what injuries I had or where I was so it was a very big shock. I was just grateful to be alive, to see my mother and speak to my children,” she said.
It later transpired that Zoe had a brachial plexus injury and her left arm was completely paralysed. After four weeks, she was moved from Cardiff to Morriston Hospital in Swansea to see nerve specialists and was later moved to Neath Port Talbot Hospital for rehabilitation and physio. In total, Zoe has been in hospital for 12 weeks.
Her four children are 12-year-old twin daughters Lili and Tiwlip, and teenagers Llwyd, 17, and Popi, 15. The proud mum said her priority would always be her children and they had dealt with everything so much better than she ever could have wished for.
“I’m just glad when they phone me up and go, ‘Mam, this is what I want for Christmas,’ or ‘Mam, where’s my top?’ because it’s normality and I know they’re getting on with their lives. Obviously they’re upset but they’re living. I’ve always lived as much as I can and travelled. The most I want from them is to carry on living and enjoying their life,” she said.
After learning of her life-changing injuries and finding out more about brachial plexus injuries – which can often occur in severe road traffic accidents and more commonly affect men – Zoe said she was even more determined than she was before to advocate for female riders and those facing similar challenges to her.
“It’s been keeping me going to think I’ve been given this challenge to shout about it. Speaking to the medical team, there’s not much support for brachial plexus injuries because it is quite a rare injury,” she said.
The dedicated motorcyclist said she wanted to advocate for disabled riders and share her journey of getting back into riding with others.
“I’m never gonna have back what I had but I still want to carry on with my passion. I’m passionate about being out there and celebrating us female riders which have been a minority. Now, as a female rider who has become disabled, I have to go out and try for all the other women who are going to be faced with this.”
Zoe said motorcycling had been her relief and meditation away from daily life and she would not give it up. She explained that motorcycles had been a big part of her life ever since she was a little girl as her father used to build bikes.
“I think that it’s a passion and the accident happened through no fault of my own. It was exactly that – an accident. It could have happened to me crossing the road. With everything that’s happened, now more than ever, I feel obliged to carry on riding to show people that it can be done. I don’t know how I’m going to get round it but I’m determined to do it.”
Michelle, who was with Zoe on the day of the crash, started a fundraising page for her “ride or die” best friend. The fundraiser has raised more than £6k already to aid Zoe in her “transitional period”.
Michelle wrote: “I’ve started this page to help ease what is going to be an incredibly challenging phase in her life, physically, mentally and financially. 100% of your donations will do towards aiding Zoe in this transitional period.”