Determination — In Discussion with Jackie (Part One)
A person’s 20s are characterised by many ‘firsts’. Milestone experiences in these years (graduations, weddings, babies) will dramatically shape a person’s life course. But for Jackie, her early 20s had a first she couldn’t have anticipated: her first interaction with the workers’ compensation system.
While working with racehorses, an ideal role for a 22-year-old national equestrian competitor, Jackie was involved in a serious accident that ended with a horse collapsing on top of her. Multiple serious fractures to her pelvis, a fractured sacrum and nerve damage to her pelvis and legs resulted. Jackie says the injury initially left her unable to be a mother to her 6-month-old: ‘I couldn’t cook, couldn’t clean, and couldn&rsqu...