Horseback rider enjoys remarkable recovery

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/01/2019 (1921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Rebecca Fentum-Jones awoke from a two-week coma on Canada Day last year, her mother couldn’t help but see the evening’s fireworks as a city-wide celebration of her daughter’s resilience.

Fentum-Jones, 22, suffered a severe brain injury on June 17, 2018 when the horse she was riding stumbled crossing Highway 59 near St Malo.

An experienced horse handler, Fentum-Jones said she didn’t think of wearing a helmet for a relaxed Sunday evening trail ride to the lake shore and back.

“I remember only the very start of that ride,” she said in an interview Monday. “As soon as (the horse) got her front two hooves on the highway, she just freaked out.”

Thankfully, her riding companion, Jessica Davis of Hooves ‘N Hounds boarding and rescue facility near St Malo, was a critical care nurse who was able to dispatch a STARS air ambulance so quickly, it nearly beat local paramedics to the scene.

“It kind of expedited the process,” Fentum-Jones’ mother, Alison Fentum, said.

After undergoing emergency surgery at Health Sciences Centre to relieve swelling in her brain, Fentum-Jones remained in a coma. She opened her eyes two weeks later, regaining consciousness gradually.

“When I woke up, I had no idea how old I was,” she recalled.

Her first post-accident memories aren’t until later that month, when she began a regime of speech and physical therapy. Until a partial vocal cord paralysis was treated with injections, her voice was confined to a whisper.

After a transfer to Riverview Health Centre, Fentum-Jones began recuperating with help from her family and her boyfriend, Richie Rodgers, whom Fentum recalled stayed at the hospital for two weeks straight.

What followed was a recovery so rapid it amazed Winnipeg brain trauma specialists, who told Fentum her daughter’s injury was one of the most serious cases they’d seen in 18 years.

Doctors later said a number of factors worked in her favour, including age, level of fitness, and immediacy of care. Today, she doesn’t even require medication.

“Everything worked together,” Fentum said.

On Oct. 16, four months after the accident, Fentum-Jones returned home to Winnipeg’s St James neighbourhood.

“It was pretty good, just mentally, to be out of a hospital,” she said.

Prior to the accident, she had been living in Ste Anne and volunteering at Hooves ‘N Hounds.

A 2017 graduate of Providence University College’s business administration program, Fentum-Jones had also lived in St Pierre while she completed her studies. She also played on the college’s basketball team.

She began working with horses in 2016, when a summer employment search landed her a grooming position at Assiniboia Downs. Later, she became a barn manager at Misty River Ranch near Grande Pointe, before working with more challenging rescue horses in St Malo.

While not everyone is at ease around large animals, Fentum-Jones said working with horses feels natural.

A typical day now sees her complete physiotherapy exercises at home, and take care of her three dogs and two cats. Over the holidays, she tried out part-time retail work at a Winnipeg mall, and has also begun making bracelets, keychains, and bath products, which she sells through Etsy, an online artisan marketplace.

As she regains her strength, she’s also considering animal-related career paths.

Her progress remains months ahead of doctors’ initial prognoses.

“They thought I would still be in hospital now.”

She admitted feeling a little impatient waiting for an upcoming doctor’s assessment that will allow her to get her driver’s licence back.

“She’s progressed faster than the structures that are put in place,” Fentum observed.

While she’s thankful to be back on two feet, Fentum-Jones isn’t stopping there. She has her sights set on horseback riding by spring, but only on trained lesson horses at Misty River, and not without a helmet on her head.

Fentum said the family has yet to decide how to use $15,000 collected via an online fundraiser, but may use some of it on private speech therapy.

“It definitely created peace of mind,” Fentum said of the crowdfunded generosity, noting worker’s compensation doesn’t extend to volunteers.

Rodgers also quit his Steinbach plumbing job to help care for Fentum-Jones in Winnipeg.

The fundraiser has already paid another form of dividend. As her daughter lay incapacitated, Fentum said it was “amazing” to receive messages of support from equestrians across Canada and the U.S. who had recovered from riding injuries.