Rachel lives near York with her husband Darren and daughter Emmie. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Rachel and Emmie, who was five at the time, were hit head on by a drunk driver doing 90mph.

“It was February 2021 so right in the middle of lockdown. It was a Friday evening, about 5 o’clock and I’d taken Emmie to pick up a prescription from our local chemist. It’s only a few minutes down the road and we were driving home when the crash happened. All I really remember is seeing a black car coming round a bend towards us, completely out of control.”

“It’s all a bit hazy after that. Some people who’d been driving behind the other car were already on the phone to the police because of how they had been driving, so help arrived really quickly. I remember a lady asking if she could get Emmie out of the car and then they had to cut me out. Beyond that, it's just a blur until waking up in the Leeds General Infirmary.”

“Luckily Emmie wasn’t injured too seriously, she broke her arm and was in hospital for a couple of days. I had an open fracture to my right femur, broke my left ankle and left knee, and had fractures in both feet, so my recovery has been a lot longer. I don’t know if I banged my head in the crash but I’ve struggled since with memory loss and losing my train of thought too.”

“I was in hospital for two weeks which I’ve got quite traumatic memories of. There were lots of COVID restrictions in place so after Emmie went home, I couldn’t see her or Darren, we weren’t able to have any visitors. We did lots of phone calls and video calls - the whole ward used to listen to me read her a bedtime story every night - but it was really difficult not having family there. I was completely non-weight bearing which meant I was totally reliant on nurses and healthcare assistants, I felt really trapped.”

“The psychological impact was the worst. I kept having panic attacks and just couldn’t calm down. All the sounds of the hospital, the equipment beeping and all the machines, really sent me down a bit of a spiral, I felt like I couldn’t escape and everything was out of my control.”

“It was at that point I was referred to Day One, and then had counselling. Just having someone there to listen to me made a big difference. With healthcare staff so overwhelmed at that point and not being able to have your family there, it filled a huge gap for me. Understanding you aren’t going crazy and it was normal to have the feelings I was having. Emmie had counselling too and I think it helped her process things at her young age.”

“Being able to go home felt like the next stage of recovery. I had a hospital bed downstairs for four months and had community care coming in every day to help me. I needed help from Darren and other family to be able to do anything at the start, it took a lot of adjusting to.

With schools still closed, Emmie would come into my room and we’d do homeschooling from my hospital bed.”

“It was about a year after the crash when I saw Day One were looking for volunteers to provide peer support for others who have gone through major trauma. I’d never done anything like it before but I felt like it would have massively helped me in the early days when I was in hospital.”

“As well as helping the people I talk to, it helps me too, as you realise lots of the things I experienced also affect other people - especially the psychological side. People can see the physical impact like wearing a boot or using a wheelchair, but no-one can understand the trauma unless you’ve been through it.

“Children and relationships also come up a lot during our calls too. People feel like they’re not doing what they should as a parent. It was the same for me but I soon realised that it didn’t matter, it was just about being there. Emmie adapted and as long as we were spending time together, she was happy. And likewise how things change in your marriage, worries about feelings changing and becoming a burden. But you have to realise those thoughts are in your head, no one else’s. I can really notice a difference between the first call with someone and call six or seven. You can often hear it in their voice or the way they talk. That makes it really worthwhile.”

“We’re three and a half years on now. Emmie will be going into Year 5 in September. She remembers what happened and talks about it sometimes but she’s doing amazingly. She knows that I struggle with fatigue and that sometimes I can’t manage the stairs to put her to bed, but she’s incredibly understanding, we’re really proud of her.”

“I went back to my job as a Personal Injury Solicitor in June 2023 after a long, phased return. It’s given me a pretty unique perspective on my role. As much as you can have empathy with clients, you don’t really get it until you’ve been through it. I can relate on a different level now as I know how it feels to have everything taken away from you.”

“I’ll probably never have quite the same mobility that I had before the accident but I’m grateful for how far I’ve come - to be driving, working and moving around again - and I’m not giving up now.”