Author: Carly Taylor
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Extra Time – 14 Years On

Fourteen years. It’s strange even to write that number. Fourteen years since the day that changed everything — the day my life was split into a “before” and an “after.” Fourteen years since the moment I lost the use of my hands, my legs and almost the whole of my body….and unknowingly began to rebuild…
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Do small things with great love.

Somebody asked me what would I really want back? If I had to choose between having my legs working or my hands? Truthfully, it would be my hands. I miss everything about them, I’m now left with hands which Theodora calls ‘monster munch hands.’ And as much as I laugh about it, it’s something I’m…
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Make peace with your past.

12 things I have learnt in 12 years of being paralysed 05/11/2011 -12 years of living in extra time ✨
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Don’t believe everything you think

I have been trying to work on my anxiety and confidence recently. It’s something I have struggled with most of my life but obviously becoming paralysed has heightened these issues. I try and sweep my feelings under a carpet but sometimes you can’t forget and you are forced to face them. I am no exception.…
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Perfectly living in an imperfect world.

It’s amazing how you can get through many months not pinpointing a certain date until something so specific to yourself lands on that date. The day to anyone else doesn’t mean anything but to you there’s something so meaningful to this certain time of the year. The day of my accident is something I will…
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Just because someone carries it well, doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy

. It’s spinal cord injury awareness month and I thought long and hard about writing something. Throughout the past 10 years I have met so many remarkable and incredible human beings. I have realised that having a spinal cord injury isn’t the end of the world, as devastating and tragic it is you can still…
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Story time.

I used to despise the fact that I had my accident, scream with anger for hours, which continued for days, weeks, months. I couldn’t understand what good could possibly come from becoming a quadriplegic. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move my hands, I couldn’t go to the bathroom, I couldn’t dress myself, I couldn’t do…
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10 years…

10 years, 10 years of the new me. Each year I would think how I would feel when it came to the 10th anniversary of my accident. Well it has come around so quickly…. I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t think about that night over and over again. Every year I reflect and feel…
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Time.

Take a moment to look around you. Picture where you were a year ago today and what your life looked like then. How did you feel? Maybe your life isn’t exactly how you would like it to be right now but what do you have today that you didn’t have a year ago? I can…
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‘Nothing dries quicker than a tear’

2011, I started a new normal life. My new life consisted of getting to know myself and my body. I had to adapt to not being able to walk, use my hands, dress myself, wash myself, go to the toilet, relying on an uncomfortable wheelchair to get me around the list could go on. Mine…