Nina's Story

I was 11 when my parents told me we were moving from good ol' England to Canada. I was devastated to say the least.

I had friends in England who I had known all my life and a great school! I kept trying to deny it, and only really accepted it when I saw the 'Sold' label on the retail sign outside my house.

My younger brother, older sister and I lived at my grandparents for a few months before we moved to Canada. My parents spent most their time over there buying a house, sorting schools out, getting to know the area and such.

My cousins live near my grandparents and one day we were all hanging out. They had brought their three bikes along and we were having a blast racing each other down the street.

We didn't have helmets on, and the bikes were a bit too small, but we kept going, zipping down the streets and breaking into giggles.

The accident

I was on a bike about to race people. I went shooting down the street really quickly, coming in first and then it happened.

The bike tire hit a rock and I went propelling forward. I pretty much face planted the road, grazed all my side and knocked myself out cold.

I came around in my Gran's kitchen, she took a cloth away from my face and it was covered in blood. I blacked out again. Next thing i know I'm in an ambulance, my Gran's face was white and her hand was in mine.

I blacked out once more. This time I came around to find myself in a hospital bed with my favorite t-shirt ripped on one side, my face really sore, and my Gran talking to a doctor. I didn't know what had happened and just looked around the room startled.

Images posed by models. Some names have been changed.

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Coming round

The doctor was really nice reassuring me how lucky I was that to be alive. It turned out I had been in a coma for a day! My parents were flying back to England as we spoke and when they came back the hospital could give me more treatment. That was a comforting enough for me to relax.

That night my parents came back and I was sent into surgery. I came out with 15 stitches in my lip, two in my ear, and five in my arm - a total of 22 stitches. The doctor told what had happened and handed me mirror - I screamed!

I didn't know who was looking back at me. My pale skin was red raw, my eyes were puffy and black and my lip was huge. I was devastated.

It took me a while to get used to myself and get a grip on the accident. The day I get the 22 stitches removed was the day I moved to Canada. Most of the scabs had scarred, and they didn't look pretty at all.

The move

On the plane a lady offered me a tissue, mistaking the scar on my lip for my nose running. I felt really ugly and horrific explaining to her it was a scar.

I started my new school very nervous; my teeth were all messed up from the surgery on my mouth, I had a different accent, and my face was still scared. No surprises that I got teased and bullied.

I am now 16, in my second year of high school. Luckily I transferred from the same school that I was bullied at. The scars aren't too bad now, but they are still noticeable and I don't look like who I was before the accident.

But I am getting false teeth put in soon, and hopefully some facial surgery to remove the scars. With any luck soon people will stop offering me tissues for that one scar!

One thing I learnt from this is to ALWAYS wear a helmet. ALWAYS. If I had a helmet on I would have just had the two stitches in my arm, Nothing else. So no matter how nerdy, dorky, or loserish you feel, wearing a helmet is SAFE. Trust me, you don't want this to happen to you.

More information:

Be safe when cycling

Images posed by models. Some names have been changed.