“My luck just ran out that day.”
Erin McDiarmid has a refreshing outlook on life. After everything she’s been through she would be allowed to feel a bit sorry for herself, but that’s not how Erin works.
“People are much worse off than me. It could have been my neck or spine, but it was my legs – although I think my brother’s still a bit traumatised by it all” Erin laughs.
Erin is determined to get back on her feet – literally – signing up to walk 49 km this August through the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust’s Back to Base Challenge.
“August marks a year since my accident, so it’s the perfect chance to give something back to the service that saved me. I’m not going to make millions, but I’ll take every bit I can to support the rescue helicopter crew,” Erin says.
Last August Fairlie resident Erin was skiing with her brother and his family at Roundhill Ski Area, just out of Tekapo. She was skiing “walking speed”, on the flat near the ski area base when she fell.
“I opened my eyes and looked down and remember saying ‘that’s inconvenient’ because my leg was facing the wrong way.”
It wasn’t just one leg that was injured.
“My shin was a bit sore. I thought my ski had just hit it when I fell, but when I pulled my ski pants up I had a spiral fracture of my shin. The skin had dropped away where the fracture was; it was pretty gnarly looking.”
Erin says she was so close to the medical room the medics walked to her.
“They could have passed me a coffee from the café – that’s how sad this accident was!”
Erin had dislocated her left ankle 180 degrees, broken a bone further up her leg and had a spiral fracture of her right leg.
“I sent my boss a Snapchat of one leg facing one way and the other leg facing the other way and said I probably wouldn’t be in on Monday. He texted back “helicopter?” and then the team at work started tracking my journey on Flight Radar!”
Erin had completed first aid training through her job at Fulton Hogan, so when her toes started feeling cold and tingly she knew it was serious.
“When the paramedics arrived they knocked me out quite quickly so they could relocate my foot back into position. When I came around they loaded me up onto a stretcher, put me in the back of a ute and drove me down to the helicopter.”
Erin remembers having some fun with the crew during the flight.
“When we hit some turbulence, I told the pilot I thought it was just his bad driving. I think they worked out that I hadn’t lost my sense of humour!”
Erin had surgery at Christchurch Hospital during which her left leg was wired and pinned together, and a rod was put down the inside of her broken right shin bone. She spent a week in Christchurch Hospital followed by a week in Timaru Hospital and then six weeks in a wheelchair at home.
Erin then had follow-up surgery in March this year, fixing a snapped screw and rewiring her left foot back together again.
“It hasn’t been easy but there’s no point having a meltdown about it. I am back riding my bike and I went on a friend’s horse the other weekend. I start the day well but by the end of the day I walk a bit like a penguin as my legs are pretty fatigued.”
And Erin says she still can’t work out exactly how it happened.
“I could have hit ice or my crossed my skis over each other – I don’t know. My luck just ran out that day. But I’ll be forever grateful to the rescue helicopter for responding so quickly and getting me to hospital. Walking Back to Base is just a little way I can give something back to this awesome cause.”
