Warning: Contains Graphic Content
A teenager had to catch her own jaw after smashing her head on a gatepost in a horrendous horse-riding accident.
Emily Eccles’ chin and jawbone were left hanging by a 1cm thread of skin after a horrific accident while riding.
The 15-year-old has since made a remarkable recovery, with her scars fading more all the time – she’s even wanting to convince her parents to let her ride again.
The incident took place earlier in August in Baslow, Derbyshire. Emily was taken to Sheffield Children’s Hospital after smashing into the gatepost, finding herself on the floor holding what was left of her jaw after the accident.
However, miracles can happen. Thanks to consultant facial reconstructive surgeon Ricardo Mohammed-Ali, a five-and-a-half hour long operation saw the teen’s face rebuilt – she was even back at school just a month later.
The photo of Emily in the immediate aftermath of the accident is below. Fair warning, it is absolutely horrific, and not for the weak-stomached.
This is your last warning – the image below is graphic:
Emily was slammed into a gatepost after her horse was spooked by a car exhaust. As the horse galloped along the country path, she fell to the side and was thrown into a wooden post.
Recalling the incident to The Sun, Emily said:
I just looked down and I was like, ‘I don’t know what that is’. [In the ambulance] I just looked down and I could see teeth and bone and I said, ‘is that my jaw?’
Now, the teen is keen to get back on the saddle – imagine being that brave.
When her mum Michelle was called about the accident, the person on the other side of phone was in a severe state of shock.
Michelle and her husband rushed to the hospital, where she was told by a nurse to prepare herself. Michelle, a teacher, said: ‘I took a few deep breaths and then she guided me into the room.’
Talking more about when she saw her daughter in hospital, Michelle told The Sun:
I think some sort of coping mechanism came over me. It’s your daughter there in a critical condition and looking very poorly and quite gruesome as well.
But her eyes were still the same so I just thought, ‘just focus on her eyes’. I gave her a kiss on her forehead and kept saying ‘it’s going to be all right’.
Fortunately, Emily’s sense of humour remained through the trauma – when Michelle’s husband said: ‘Em, you don’t do anything by halves’ Emily brushed it off with a mocking tone.
Following the surgery, Emily was treated in hospital for 11 days – her mother is still in awe of her quick recovery after Mr. Mohammed-Ali’s fantastic work.
Michelle added:
After six days the bandages came off. That was just miraculous. I couldn’t believe there was just this one scar and everything, although still swollen, was back in the right place.
It just is miraculous what he had done. Being able to come home after such a horrific accident, 11 days on, is just testament to [Mr. Mohammed-Ali] and all the other professionals.
We’ve tried to thank him and he’s such an unassuming guy. He just smiles quietly and says ‘I was just doing my job’.
Two months on, the family are looking to raise money for the Children’s Hospital Charity’s appeal for a helipad in Sheffield and also for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.