A New Hope – Judo Star Rising
A New Hope –
Judo Star Rising
Brave Scots lassie Stephanie Inglis was only given a 1% chance of survival when her skirt caught on a bike taxi in Ha Long in Vietnam and she suffered severe head injuries as she was dragged from the machine. She had been teaching English to underprivileged children there for six months prior to the accident, but now Stephanie, who is from Daviot, near Inverness, and lives in Dunfermline, has been flown back to her native Scotland. She arrived in Edinburgh earlier this week from Thailand where she was receiving treatment after being transferred from Vietnam.
Friends and Family Rallied Round
The twenty seven year old won a silver medal in judo at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and showed her fighting spirit then, but now she has surpassed herself in the fight to survive the accident. Friends and fellow athletes of the judo star set up a FaceBook page SaveSteph and raised money for the stricken girl which was to prove key in her treatment. Donations to an appeal set up by Stephanie’s friend, athlete Khalid Gehlan was able to raise more than £250,000 for her treatment and this has proven a lifesaver!
A Fighter in all Ways
She had been placed in an induced coma, but when her parents arrived and she received more intensive treatment she was able to open one eye and hold her father’s hand. Brave Stephanie was ruled out of the Rio Olympics by an injury and so had decided to teach in Vietnam during the year of the games after a knee operation ruled her out of the sport. Her trials and tribulations are not over yet and she faces a long road to recovery and which will start a specialist unit at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital. We can only wish her well as she recovers.
