Published: Thursday, 24th June, 2010 7:35am

Couple to wed after horror smash

by Siew Peng Lee

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A DALGETY BAY woman is determined to walk down the aise to marry her fiance after the horrific car crash that broke both their backs.

IslaMarie Turnbull (21, pictured) and fiance Craig Smith (22) were escaping for a romantic weekend at Glenskirlie Castle last summer when they were involved in the smash.

They both broke their L1 lumbar vertebra, Craig sustaining a 25 per cent break while IslaMarie suffered 45 per cent - and had to learn to walk again.

They planned to wed this September and IslaMarie's determined to walk down the aisle - without her walking stick.

IslaMarie, of River Walk, Dalgety Bay, recalled, "Craig had surprised me with a proposal in 2008 and the weekend away was a surprise as well.

"We were heading south on the A90 when we hit a tractor pulling a lorry trailer which was across both lanes. I don't think the driver looked and just pulled out.

"Craig was driving and slammed on the brakes - he swung the car around and went for the tyres.

"My first reaction was, 'That's it'. I thought we weren't going to make it, so I turned to him and just had time to say 'I love you' before we hit."

Their Ford Focus was "totally annihilated" in the crash and former Inverkeithing High pupil IslaMarie, who had just completed her third year in design at Robert Gordon University, didn't think they would survive.

She said, "Unfortunately, I remember it all - the sound of the car hitting the tyres, the metal crunching.

"The windscreen was completely smashed in, the engine was in the dashboard and starting to smoke.

"Craig was immediately out of the car and ran to my side - he was scared the car would go up in flames and said, 'We've got to get out.'

"But I couldn't move - I couldn't breathe and the pain was unbelievable. It was like a hot iron and sharp knife in my back.

"So he carried me out - we later discovered he had broken his back and injured his knee as well.

"I've always had something about speed - in my first year at university, I lost a friend in a car crash.

"I think because we were only going 65mph instead of 70, that saved our lives."

They were taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary where Craig was kept in overnight but IslaMarie would remain in hospital for 10 weeks recuperating.

She was fitted with a back brace - which she says she hated - and learnt to walk again.

She said, "It was four or five days before it began to register what we'd been through and how lucky we'd been.

"When I was told, I thought, 'I can't have broken my back - that's a very serious injury'.

"I suffered nerve damage to my buttocks and left leg and lost spatial awareness - I can lift my foot but I can't tell if it's a foot or an inch off the ground and if I cross my legs I can't tell which foot's on top.

"I used to represent Scotland at synchronised swimming, surfed and was very active and my concern was, where do I go from here?

"With a spinal injury you go from being independent to relying on someone else for everything.

"In August it sank in: what am I going to do with the rest of my life?"

Despite being told "don't do this or that" when she was discharged in September, IslaMarie went back to university that month "against an awful lot of people's opinions".

IslaMarie, who is also dyslexic, said, "I was strongly discouraged from going back because of what I'd been through.

"But I had nothing left - I couldn't live with my boyfriend, I couldn't walk, I had lost my independence - and I said they couldn't take university away from me too."

At university, IslaMarie started a project redesigning the back brace, looking at comfort and aesthetics.

She explained, "I was mortified when I had to wear it - I looked like a cross between Robocop and the Bionic Woman.

"I felt stigmatised at having to use a walking stick but this made people stare even more.

"It was uncomfortable and I needed someone to help me put it on and it's very hard to cover up because it's so cumbersome.

"But I thought if I'm going to spend a few months in it I might as well get an honours year out of it.

"It gave me something to focus on and turn a negative experience into something good at the end."

She worked with medical experts and patients to come up with a new waistcoat-like design, which uses panelling to offer better support to the back muscles, prevent muscle wastage and can be put on independently, compared to the traditional 'clamshell' design.

For her project, she also examined the psychological pressures on patients with spinal injuries, having seen a psychologist for her own post-traumatic stress disorder following the accident.

She worked closely with the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma Rehabilitation and was a key speaker at the TraumaCare conference in May, and will now see her work published in the professional journal 'Trauma'.

She's received a first-class degree for her work - and is now working with the NHS to further develop the brace.

The young designer faces spinal surgery this September - and is hoping to ditch the walking stick when she marries Craig, "hopefully next year".

She said, "I have a lot of support, but it's still very hard to deal with.

"To travel in a car is incredibly hard - every time I get in it's like 'Final Destination' in my head. Everyone's going on with their lives but I can't.

"But you still have to see the positive - I'm still alive, have an amazing project and the chance to take it further.

"The surgery should hopefully mean I don't have to use the walking stick or brace anymore, and will give me a lot more freedom.

"I'd like to think that in a year or two I can get back to my life.

"No walking stick or brace when I walk down the aisle - that'd be a dream.

"That's what I'm aiming for."