Geraldine Lavelle’s life changed “in a heartbeat”. That was in October 2013 when she was left paralysed from the chest down following a collision with a lorry.
The Sligo native had become accustomed to enjoying an early-morning cycle before work, until the accident cycling on the Longford-Mullingar road changed life for the then 27-year-old.
The collision left Ms Lavelle, a graduate of NUI Galway where she gained a first-class master’s degree in neuroscience, with spinal fractures and paralysed from the chest down.
“I was a keen cyclist, I cycled 25-30km Monday to Friday before work and I was only getting into it when the accident occurred. I had done one 60km race and one 100km race before the accident,” Ms Lavelle said.
Despite the accident, the now 31-year-old, who works at Sligo IT, says she tries to remain positive rather than focus on what could have been.
Source: Irish Times
