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Fox
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Tanja Erath:
"When I fell, my spine was compressed and I fell violently on my head. I was in unbelievable pain and panicked because I felt that something was wrong with my thoracic spine," said Erath.
The fact that she could feel and move her legs gave her some reassurance, but as a precaution she told the rescue workers that she should be lifted "as a whole" to protect her spine. "To my surprise, they did not listen to me and did not follow my request. So they let me walk to the stretcher," she wrote. But that's not all: Erath was simply dropped off at the team hotel by the medical supervisors, "without any further safety measures with a view to my spine," said Erath, who was then brought to the emergency room by the team and only four hours later with a doctor for the first time Had contact. She told him about her fears. "He took my worries seriously and arranged for an x-ray of my spine," said Erath. During the examination, fractures of two thoracic vertebrae were finally diagnosed.
But even after the diagnosis, no further safety measures were taken. So Erath had to run to the CT and was then transferred to the trauma surgery department at Oxford: "Strangely enough, still without any further protection for my spine."
It was only in Oxford that the seriousness of the situation was actually recognized and she was forbidden from moving on her own. Instead, four people lifted her into a bed. It was also found here that a vertebra was unstable and had to be operated on.
However, this procedure should be carried out in Germany. With the support of her friend, SVL Sport GmbH and the team doctor Dirk Tenner, she should be flown home. However, the plan failed because of the petrol shortage in England - one of the consequences of Brexit. "No joke. Because of the lack of petrol there was no ambulance that could take me to the airport," wrote Erath.
She spent her 32nd birthday on October 7th, lashed to a bed with a vacuum mattress in an ambulance that came from Germany and took her home in a twelve-hour drive. "That was the best birthday present ever. I've never felt so relieved," said Erath, who received good news the day after her birthday. After specialists at Cologne University Hospital looked at the results of the CT examination again, it was decided that the fracture on the spine could be treated conservatively - accompanied by regular x-rays. "I am supposed to stay in bed, but I can move with the help of a corset. That was probably the best day of my life," reported Erath, who will be operated on on the collarbone on Tuesday.