No pause button for life

What started out as a fun-filled day of adventure ended with Carol Murray experiencing the unimaginable – free falling an estimated 3,200 feet at a speed of 90 km per hour. During her first ever skydive in Ontario where she lived, Carol’s main parachute malfunctioned and her reserve parachute became tangled. “I don’t actually remember the fall but I do remember knowing that my parachute wasn’t going to open and then I fainted,” recalls Carol.

Carol suffered numerous injuries including a collapsed lung, broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, and the most complex of injuries, a fractured left femur and a compound fracture in her right femur. Over the course of the next 11 years, Carol had 23 surgeries at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Ontario. She was still attending regular physiotherapy but miraculously, Carol had managed to resume everyday activities with little side effects from her accident.  

In August 2008, Carol moved to Nova Scotia. A few months after relocating, Carol unexpectedly developed an infection that required the hardware in her knee, hip, and femur to be removed. “I was really scared,” admits Carol, who had developed strong, trusting relationships with her Ontario physicians. “To need yet another surgery in a facility that was all new to me was not something I was looking forward to.” Dr. Chad Coles in orthopaedic surgery was Carol’s physician and he was able to put her right at ease. “I was so impressed with his kind bedside manner and the treatment I received at the QEII was excellent,” she says.

Today Carol is enjoying Nova Scotia, being home close to family. “I didn’t pause my life because of my accident and my 24 surgeries,” expresses Carol. “I kept going and living life”.