With ‘Grit and Determination,’ Emma-Jayne Wilson Still Faces Long Recovery

[Wandering Eyes]

From an Eclipse Award to two Sovereign Awards, from a Queen's Plate win among her dozens of stakes victories to the title of highest-earning female rider in the sport's history and more than 1,900 career visits to the winner's circle, Emma-Jayne Wilson has fought her share of battles on the racetrack. One of the most challenging battles of her life, however, is surely the one she is now fighting behind closed doors as she recovers from neck and pelvic fractures sustained in an Oct. 25 accident at Woodbine.

The words “neck and pelvic fractures” don't do justice to the severity of her injuries, which left Wilson completely bedridden for more than two months and continue to pave a long road of recovery ahead of her.

“There were a few days I was in ICU with major trauma and bleeding they were monitoring very, very closely,” said Wilson this week via phone from her home in the Toronto area. “It was a bit touch and go in that tight time, but that massive surgery that they did was successful.”

Wilson is refreshingly candid about the difficulty in being faced with a long and arduous recovery, a challenge for any person, but magnified exponentially for an athlete used to being extremely active.

“I'm doing as well as can be expected,” she said. “It's odd, it's bittersweet. I had some good news obviously this week [with the neck collar coming off], but the reality of the situation really sucks as well. I'll be honest, I don't have a good attitude all the time. You don't really showcase the negative days because it's not really worth it, but I'm going to be honest. There's some ups and downs, good days and bad. I woke up [Thursday] and it wasn't a good day. I was just grumpy and unhappy with the situation and I wanted to throw things and hit things.

“But,” she emphasizes, “I've been given an excellent prognosis with full recovery, so that's what I focus on. I'm used to training and exercising and whatnot, so that's what I put the focus into. It's not bench pressing like I'm used to, but it's that much more important to do these exercises and get these small gains. I give everything to that, every ounce that I can, to using the walker and getting my legs going properly again. There's a lot of little things and those are the positives, so that's what I hold on to, that full recovery prognosis that I have. That gets you through those [rough] days.”

Wilson in July, when she broke the record as the highest-earning female jockey in history | Michael Burns

Wilson said the fractures she sustained were not simple. Her neck fracture was at the C2 level, or the second cervical level. It was the same fracture actor and horseman Christopher Reeve sustained, which left him paralyzed from the neck down for the remainder of his life. Wilson said her C2 fracture was very close to being surgical, but it was the pelvic injuries that have been the biggest challenge.

In the trauma bay immediately after the accident, doctors screwed pins through both of Wilson's femurs just above her knees “and attached these hoops around them so they could string a cable to pull my lower body down away from my upper body so my pelvis didn't collapse inwards.” It was a special form of traction meant to buy time as the surgical team needed to protect the area while they waited for the swelling and bleeding to subside enough to operate. Her pelvic injuries were complex and Wilson now sports an array of internal plates and screws.

“The surgery that they did spared me any neurological damage,” said Wilson. “One of the significant pieces is the severity of the fractures. It all depends on the severity. I did sustain massive fractures to my pelvis and my sacrum. I hit the rail at full speed, but I was lucky enough that the fractures didn't get to my joints, so my hips and the front of my pelvis were spared. I was very lucky.”

Wilson spent about two months in the hospital, but wasn't able to walk away.

“I was released from the hospital before Christmas, but I've been bedridden, so I'm literally living in my living room. We had to get a hospital bed and all the accessories to go along with the number of wheeled devices to help me go through the day. The early days were very, very difficult.

“I've been completely non-weight-bearing, where I was not to put my weight on the ground at all, so I would have to transfer from the bed to a wheelchair, for example, using a slide board so I wouldn't put my feet down. It's slowly progressed where I could build from there and the orthopedic surgeon has now opened it up to some weight-bearing to move towards full weight-bearing. There's that level of reactivation and reengaging the muscles that were traumatized to bring them back to what they know and what they're used to. You have to do it properly and that's where I'm at now.”

Jockeys are famously tough as nails and so accustomed to working through injuries that they often tend to heal and return faster than expected. Wilson said this particular healing is not a process that can be expedited.

“There's no point in rushing because it may be a shortcut now, but you're not going to gain in the long term. I've had enough injuries through my career that the reality of that is there and the gains have been like that. There's no other option really. You do it and you do it right.”

Given her fitness and athleticism, the doctors have given Wilson a prognosis of full recovery in time. However, with such severe injuries, will her body truly be the same? Will she be able to return at 100% capacity?

“I'm going to be a little bit different, I think, but not excessively so,” said Wilson. “The intent is to get back to riding as soon as I am able to give the same riding that everyone was used to. That is the goal, but with the severity of the injuries and the way rehabilitation goes, I'm not going to rush it.”

Wilson in the win that secured her historic earnings record | Michael Burns

Woodbine, where Wilson is based, opens for the season Apr. 26, a little more than three months away and six months after the spill. She hopes to be ready to ride, but is also realistic that it may be too soon.

“The goal would be opening day, but I have to take every day as it comes with the right level of grit and determination and then go from there, taking it day by day.”

Race riding is a dangerous job. Jockeys risk not just their livelihoods, but also their health and even their lives multiple times a day. Wilson was asked if she thinks the risks will be more acute, or more prominent in her thoughts, when she does return. She didn't hesitate as she cited an ongoing deep respect for the hazards that go along with riding. She said nothing has changed in that regard.

“The way I've always looked at it–and I've sustained multiple injuries [in my career], this one being one of the most severe–is if it really changes your outlook on how you ride races, it's because you didn't respect the dangers to begin with. For me, it's no different. The risk hasn't changed; it's always been the same.

“The next time I throw a leg over a horse, I know what I'm going out there to do and what the risks involved are and I knew that the first time I threw my leg over a horse in a race as well. That level of respect and acknowledgment of what the potential dangers are is a big part of that. I don't think that everyone manages it the same as me, so I think it's important for the mental health aspect as jocks where that discussion that has come up in the last year or so. But for me, I think that outlook, that perception has given me so much strength as a whole from the beginning of my career.”

As Wilson spends long days continuing to recover, she said positive messages on social media have helped keep her spirits up.

“I just want to say how grateful I am with the support I've been getting from the fans. Social media gives people access and the support of the fans has made me feel so blessed. It helps on those down days when you get a chance to have a look through. It means so much to see those little tidbits and helps me look at the bigger picture.”

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