A woman who managed to survive falling 15,000 feet after her parachute malfunctioned during a skydive opened up about what she remembered about the life-changing incident.
Emma Carey, from Australia, was making big changes in her life in the form of ticking things off her dream list, when she deciding to go skydiving in the Swiss Alps.
However, this dream soon became a nightmare just moments after jumping out of the plane.
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Once Emma left the safety of the craft, something went terribly wrong with the parachute carrying her and the instructor, which sent them both careening to the ground below.
If you thought she would have passed out due to trauma, you’d be very wrong. Listen to her speak about it here:
Even though Emma fell 4.5km, she survived the fall but was paralysed from the waist down and was told she’d likely never walk again.
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Emma was conscious the entire time, which meant that she has a crystal clear memory of the day and the horrifying incident.
She told Sunrise: “I was never knocked unconscious. So I remember the fall, I remember landing, I remember the moment I realised I was paralysed - all of it.
“The first thing I felt when I hit the ground was just overwhelming pain in my whole body.
“I didn’t know where it was coming from, I’ve never felt anything like it.”
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A rescue chopper was called in to fly Emma and her instructor - who also thankfully survived - to hospital, where she went straight into surgery on her back and broken pelvis.
Emma recalled that the memory of the horrific event helps reminds her to be grateful of life.
Emma said she thought she had just 10 seconds left to live and it changed her perception of everything.
She said: “I know how it feels. To think I only have 10 seconds left to live and now I get the rest of my life, whatever that is, so I think it's actually really nice for me to have that memory because it helps to keep me grateful.
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“Life really changed from that moment on and I also feel like every day from that date is just extra time that I get to live, so I should celebrate that.”
Although Emma was told she would be paralysed, she has since started to regain some feeling in her legs and slowly learnt how to walk again.
Since the awful incident, Emma wrote a book about her experience - titled The Girl who Fell from the Sky.
It details her remarkable recovery and hopes it will inspire others to not take life for granted.
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She said: “I think because I have the memory of the fall, even though it was a really traumatic thing to live through, it actually helped me because I experienced that deep sense of regret that I didn’t have much longer to live and how much I still wanted to do,” she said.
“So, when I survived, even though I was paralysed and things were hard, I felt so lucky to still be here.”
Featured Image Credit: A Current Affair/9 NewsTopics: Health, Sport, World News