Former private schoolgirl who lost her legs in teenage suicide attempt reveals how becoming a mother has given her a reason to live
청소년 시절 자살기도로 두 다리를 잃은 여인의 행복이야기
Suicide attempt: Helen Galsworthy (above) was 18 when she walked on to the tracks close to her home in Eastleigh, Hampshire - wanting to end her life
헬렌 갈스워시는 18살에 자살을 하기 위해 철로 길 위를 걸었다.
그러나 기차가 접근하자 몸이 움직여져 철로 바깥으로 나갔지만 그만
두 다리가 철로 위에 걸쳐진 채로 절단되고 말았다.
의식을 잃은 그녀가 오랜 시간 후에 깨어났을 땐 비로서 자신의 두다리가
철로 위에 있다는 사실을 알았다.
7년 후, 그녀는 한 아이 엄마가 되어 있었고 대학을 다니고 있다.
그녀는 가족들과 제2의 인생을 살고 있다.
[에디터 황기철]
Helen Galsworthy attempted suicide when she walked onto train tracks But she moved just as train approached, taking off both legs below knee Conscious for just long enough to see her detached legs lying on track Seven years later she is a mother to boy, two, and studying at university
By Daily Mail Reporter
The day Helen Galsworthy lay down across a railway line near her home, her life was at rock bottom.
She’d been bullied at school, become addicted to cocaine and sunk into such a deep depression she could think of only one way out.
But as she waited for a train to end her life, fate took a twist.
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The then 18-year-old moved slightly which meant as the thundering loco hit her it took only her legs below the knee.
Now, seven years on, she is happy to tell how her suicide ploy failed and why she has found a whole new reason to live life to the full – her little boy, Thomas.
Incredibly, Helen was conscious for just long enough to see her severed legs lying on the track.
Thankfully, a passing dog walker found her and she was rushed to hospital.
Today, 25-year-old Helen says she can finally talk about the ordeal and coming to terms with being an amputee.
Doing best: Miss Galsworthy (left, aged 18; and right, now) was suffering from depression and addicted to cocaine when she tried to take her life
And she is moving on with her life after giving birth to a boy.
Helen, who now lives in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, said: ‘When I lost my legs I thought my life was over, but now I have so much to live for.
‘Thomas has made me realise that I’m here for a reason.’
Helen had a respectable, middle class upbringing at a private school in Hampshire.
But schoolyard bullying left her self-esteem in tatters, and when she was 18 she became involved with drugs and dropped out of university – where she was studying for a degree in media.
At the end of her tether, she felt that suicide was the only way out.
She said: ‘Strangely I felt really happy. I was more at peace than I had been for a long time.
Baby Thomas: Miss Galsworthy said her son 'has made me realise that I’m here for a reason'
'I just lay down and shut my eyes and put some music on waiting for when I got hit by the train but it didn’t go to plan.
'I moved slightly at the last minute and ended up with just my legs across the tracks.
‘I just remember thinking, “Oh god, I’ve really messed this up”.
'I could see a lot of blood and the end of my jeans were cut off. It was agonising.
Moving on: Miss Galsworthy, a criminology student, with her prosthetic legs at her home in Eastleigh
Family: Miss Galsworthy with her son Thomas, two, and boyfriend William Ryves, 31, at home in Eastleigh
‘I couldn’t believe what had happened, I lay down there to die, not to end up disabled.’
After six weeks in hospital Helen was discharged, but she struggled to cope without her legs.
She said: ‘I didn’t think anyone would want me and I thought I’d never be able to achieve the things I had wanted in life like getting married and having children.
‘For a long time life was unbearable until 2011 when I fell pregnant with Thomas. Thomas wasn’t planned and I thought I had put my body through too much to ever be able to conceive.
‘But I had always wanted to be a mum. His dad and I split not long after he was born but Thomas is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’
Changed woman: After six weeks in hospital she was discharged, but struggled to cope without her legs
And now Helen – who gets around day to day on prosthetic legs – has started university again, studying for a degree in criminology.
She has even taken part in a skydive to raise money for an amputee charity and volunteers on the psychiatric ward where she was once a patient.
She said: ‘Losing my legs was devastating but now I’m just happy that I survived.
‘There was a time when I didn’t want to live but now I’m a mum and my life has a meaning. After I lost my legs I thought I’d be alone for ever but now I have everything I’ve ever wanted.’
Seven years later: Miss Galsworthy is a pictured with her two-year-old son Thomas at home in Eastleigh dailymail
