I am the youngest sibling of three. I have and older sister and brother. We all had a strong interest in horses and all had or own horses for many years. In 1983 my sister and I had planned to go riding together. I was unable to go as I wasn't feeling well. My sister asked a young neighbour of hers to go with her. They were riding on a public road and were approaching a small one land bridge. They stopped the horses and pulled onto a small grassy verge to let the traffic go past. They were parallel to the road, facing the same way the traffic was going. A delivery truck came from behind my sister and her neighbour, and he hit my sisters horse, flipping her over and leaving my sister and her horse lying on the ground. He then drove off without stopping to check if anyone was injured. My sister was unconscious, and her horse had a HUGE 8 inch wide by 19 inch long strip of flesh off her rump, and was bleeding. (Back then we did not have mobile phones). A guy in a work truck came along seconds later, and stopped and put my sister in the recovery position , then called for an ambulance via his work RT. He then waited with my sister and her friend until the Ambulance arrived. The guy that hit the horse, had a passenger with him who saw what had happened and had tried to get the truck driver to stop. However he did not stop. My mother got a phone call from the hospital saying that her elder daughter had been in an accident and was unconscious in the hospital in a serious condition and advised us to get to the hospital asap. I called my brother and told him the news, and we all drove to the hospital. We were all in shock. When we got to the hospital my sisters husband was there, as well as the guy who had stopped to call the ambulance, and put my sister into the recovery position. We were ushered into a small private room where we all sat down while the doctors explained that my sister was unconscious, and they had put her into a medically induced coma to allow the swelling in her brain to go down. They did not know if she would survive.. They did not know that if she did survive, that she would be able to walk, or talk, or be able to live a normal life. We were all in shock and it was really hard to comprehend what had happened. My sister stayed in hospital for months and was in a coma for many weeks. As a family, we visited her every day, my mother an I often went three times a day. As my sister slowly came out of the coma, she had to learn how to walk, talk, feed herself, dress herself, all the things you do every day without thinking about how to do it. It was a very slow process, but little by little my sister came back to us. Previously to this, she had been a horse breeder as well as a rider. She had young foals she had been breaking in and training. We all wondered if she would be able to carry on with the breeding, or even ride again. Little by little my sisters memory came back. We had lost our father very suddenly the year before and were not sure if my sister remembered this. However, she did. I took photos of her horses into her, as well as some of us riding together. She remembered all the horses names etc. In the meantime, the Police had gone to interview the young girl who was riding with my sister that day. She was only 12, and had witnessed the whole thing. However, sadly, the Police interviewed her without an adult present, so they could not prosecute the guy in the truck who had caused the accident, because the witness was underage and had not had an adult with her when she gave evidence. He never admitted he had caused the accident, but later that day it happened, he went to the Police and said he had "seen" an accident, but did not admit he had caused it. He was never charged with anything. We would often see him out and about in his delivery truck. At the time, he was a delivery driver for a Local well known Stationery store. He lived just down the road from here. So my sister gradually learned how to do things, and was discharged from the hospital. She needed daily physio for many months, went through menopause at the age of 35 and needed extensive dental surgery as well. Amazingly, my sister had no broken bones from the fall. Her horse was also ok, and the skin that had been ripped off slowly healed and grew back. My sister did carry on (albeit slowly) riding her beloved horses, and she carried on with the breeding as well. She showed her horses, and I always went with her and became her photographer. Her horses always did well in the show ring wining many firsts. I got to know a couple of the other competitors and ended up doing some photography of their horses as well. It was mostly a very friendly bunch of people at these events. My sister and I carried on riding together. We spent a lot of time together, with our horses. This went on for several years, until my sister moved over two hours North. I didn't see much of her as it was too far away and I don't drive. Then things began to change with my sister. Her personality began to change. Before the accident, she was very strong minded and didn't take s#@t from anyone. Sadly this all slowly changed and she became very dependent on someone in her life who has a narcissistic personality and now had control over her. My sister became spiteful towards me, accusing me of odd things that I could not possibly have done. It was emotionally challenging for me, as well as my mother. Other family members and friends also noticed the negative change in my sister. No-one was safe from the hurtful things she would say. Because of the accident, my sisters blood did not circulate properly, and eventually she had to have some toes amputated. She had a very small cut on one of her toes, which did not heal, and that was the beginning of her having to have surgery to amputate. Then it was one of her legs that they had to amputate. She was always cold, and wore gloves on her hands all the time. Eventually she had some fingers amputated as well. I saw very little of her over her last ten years, and I never became immune to her nasty spiteful comments. It was extremely hard to understand that this was her TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) making her like this. Her personality had gone from white to black. Her personality was the complete opposite to what it had been before the accident and as a family, we were not the only ones to see it, or feel it. I found myself confused and hurt and often in tears many times, not understanding the situation at all. It was hard and it was painful. I became distant from my sister, the beautiful sister I had once been so close to was not there anymore. Like me, she was a bit of an artist and used to do water colour painting. She carried on with this as best she could. Because of the geographical distance, and the fact that she was no longer able to drive, I did not see her and only occasionally heard from her. Then one evening almost 7 years ago, she sadly passed away from injuries from the accident. She passed away on what would have been her 70th birthday. She had lived with a Traumatic Brain Injury for 34 years. I miss her heaps. I miss the sister I only had for 35 years. I miss the fun times we spent on our beloved horses. The fun times we took our horses swimming at the beach, or galloping crazily along the beach with not a care in the world. I miss her dearly every day. RIP my beautiful sister, we love you...
The passenger with the guy in the truck that hit may sisters horse, was apparently somewhat intellectually disabled and even though he saw what had happened, he was not allowed to give evidence.
Thank you if you have read this to the end. This is something I have wanted to write for some time. There's so many more layers to this, but I cannot write it here due to some people's names needing to be kept private. My sister had two teenage boys at the time. They too are obviously deeply affected by this accident. In MY opinion, it was NOT an "accident". In MY heart and mind it is manslaughter. A hit and run. My sister was not to blame in anyway. She did not 'have an accident'. She was an innocent victim of some selfish person who hit her horse, and left her for dead on the side of the road and drove off KNOWING what he had done. Personally, I hope the guy that caused this "accident" has had a tormented life, and rots in Hell. Amen.
Thank you to those who have stayed to the end and patiently read all of this. It is something I have wanted and needed to write for some time. Something in me 'shifted' recently, and said the time was right to write this. Have a SUNSHINE DAY! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day.
