Day 1 of my dance degree and I suddenly find I'm struggling to dance. I did the usual, went to the doctors, went for X-Rays, rested and went for physio all to be told "I think you need an MRI but I can't help, I don't know what will aggravate your hip"
I'm pretty sure that's your job!!
I continued attending my degree but watched which was torture, I slowly feared I wouldn't follow my dream!
So what did I do?
The NHS couldn't get me an MRI scan and so I contacted the consultant from the BMI Meridan at Walsgrave who had operated on my dad the previous year. From the MRI and X-Rays he performed he believed he was going to have to re-align my thigh bone in the hip socket!
Doesn't sound nice but he decided to try a steroid injection first to see what that would do. Initially it worked but then two days later back in class and I was struggling to move and so the phone call was made to book the operation, allowing me a 12 week recovering before beginning my 2nd year.
After the operation they told me the reason I'd been in so much pain and discomfort was due to the ligament on my femur head being detached by around 1-2cm!! Yeah ouch!!
So, the road to recovery began. First I had to learn to walk again, which was fine until it came to using the stairs with crutches and my stairs at home were spiral! Luckily, being 19 at the time my recovery was quick, I was off my crutches within 2 days, was a week ahead of my physio schedule and returned to my 2nd year 12 weeks to the day of my operation!
Miracle? No, just pure determination that I wasn't going to give up on a dream, especially when it was costing me £9,000!!
So 2nd year began and I was back to doing the thing I'd done all my life, dancing! During my 2nd year I won 1 of 6 International places to dance in Namibia with Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO), the countries first professional dance company.
OYO use dance to educate the young people of Namibia about social issues such as HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, baby dumping, gender based violence, stigma etc. During the internship myself and the other interns had to lead the warm-up and class of the morning and afternoon and it was during this that I realised I wanted to teach and loved seeing the dancers improve during the class.
I made it to the top of the Highest Sandune in the World, Big Daddy!
Wondering why I don't look too happy in the above picture? That would be because half way up I didn't think I would make it due to my hip cramping! 2 pain killers later and I made it.
Namibia made me realise I can still follow my dream and protect my hip from any further injury. I can pass my passion on by teaching!! So, as I returned to my degree for the final year I undertook an apprenticeship with a local youth dance company where I learnt to develop my teaching skills but also how to run a youth dance company. This lead me to undertake my PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and Training and subsequently has lead me to being self employed.
Looking back to when I was injured I knew that not dancing wasn’t an option and I’m so glad that I can still follow my dreams.
So my message to you is never give up on your dreams, one day they will become true!
