I’d had the best year ever. I got accepted into the police on the same day as my little boy was born. I was 24 years old and I felt like the world was at my feet! I was six weeks away from my wedding.

One night after work I went to the gym and when I picked my first set of weights up I suddenly got the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life! I managed to get myself downstairs and sat behind the reception desk before my left side lost all of its ability. I just managed to tell the receptionist to ring an ambulance before passing out on the floor.

I was in and out of consciousness while throwing up. I don’t remember anything else after this – only dribs and drabs, here and there. I was transferred to the nearest hospital, where they found a grade 4 brain haemorrhage. I remember the surgeon popping up in my face and telling me I needed brain surgery. I couldn’t sign the consent form as I’m lefthanded, so my fiancé had to do it for me. I went straight down for surgery….and that’s when the hard work begins.

When I woke from surgery I waved at my fiancé and shouted, “I’m alive!”. I didn’t realise the damage that was done at that point. My balance was shot, as was my coordination. My cognition was non-existent, and my brain filter had “gone on a walk”. I knew something wasn’t right, but I was stubborn and still adamant I wanted to do everything myself. I got fatigued very easily and was on that many drugs I was pretty much a zombie for the first month. After a month I was transferred to the neuro rehabilitation ward at my local hospital.

Rehab was tough but I’m so glad I got the chance to do it because my recovery skyrocketed when I got there. I met loads of people who’d suffered similar injuries and I made friends for life. It wasn’t until I got home two months after the injury that the hard work really starts. This is when I realised the true extent of my injury. I relied heavily on my fiancé as I was just too tired to do anything.

After a few months of sitting in bed and resting, I realised my mood was all over the place and it was affecting my family. I decided to go to talking therapy. After eight weeks of that, I felt so much better. One thing I learned is that nobody can tell you that you need therapy. You have to find out the hard way. But if you’re seriously low there’s nothing wrong with talking to somebody. I felt like I didn’t want to unload my stuff on friends or family and that’s why therapy was perfect.

A year after the injury I went to more rehab with the police and got myself back in the gym. I started completely from scratch and I wasn’t ashamed to be doing a lot less weights and exercise. I just did what I could and built on it month by month. Now I feel a million times better and more like my normal self. I still push a bit too much when left to my own devices, but I know my body more than anyone and I know when I’m overdoing it. It’s important to keep your head up and not think of the negatives. There so many positives. I just focus on what I can do now rather than what I lost. Even though I got left sided hemianopia it’s not the worst thing that could have happened.

Now my new focus is to get back to frontline policing or any role in the police and I’m doing CrossFit now and working on getting myself fit and hopefully get to compete in competition when I’m ready.