When Madison Watt regained consciousness after taking a bad spill and ending up in a ditch during an international moto-cross race, she had no recollection of what happened. But once she was able to think ahead, her first fear was that the accident could mean she wouldn't be able to race again.
“It's been part of our family for so long - if I don't have to give it up, I won't,” she said, from back home in St. Paul, as she works her way back to a full recovery from the crash that left her with three broken ribs, a lacerated liver, a collapsed lung, and internal bleeding.
However, all moto-cross racers expect that risk when they take part in the sport, she notes.
“If you can race as long as you want and never have a bad crash, then you’re super lucky. I knew there was a time I was going to crash bad. It’s like, ‘When is it going to happen?’”
Watt had been selected to join Team Canada in taking part in the International Six Days of Enduro event, which she had called “a super big accomplishment for me.”
When she left for France in mid-August, her only goal was to finish the race in one piece, although she notes, “I was a little nervous because I’d never rode an Enduro race before.”
However, on the first day of racing, Aug. 28, she found herself getting into the rhythm, and figuring out the course, that sees riders take on everything from road racing, to travelling through bush and terrain.
Somewhere in that first day of racing, things went awry, likely not even 100 km into the race.
While Watt has no recollection of what happened, she does know another racer came across her, lying passed out in a ditch. It was unclear exactly how long she might have been lying there before being found, but the woman called in emergency help.
Watt was transported by ambulance to a local hospital and doctors at that hospital, seeing the extent of her injuries and internal bleeding, made the decision to send her to a university hospital.
Ten days after the crash, she had seven litres of blood and other fluids drained from her stomach, following which she had to have three additional litres drained from her chest.
“I was in ICU the whole time I was there,” she said, adding she was on an IV for four weeks, and lost 35 lbs., most of which was muscle.
“For the first while, nurses would have to help me sit up. I couldn't actually take a step or I would fall over.”
Through it all, her father stayed close, even when she told him he should go home to be with the rest of the family.
He was staying in a cabin with Team Canada, an hour’s drive from the hospital, and even though the hospital’s visiting hours were limited to two hours, he made the trip every day to see his daughter.
“He stuck by my side through the whole thing and kept encouraging me every day to get better,” said Watt. “He really helped me through the whole experience and I couldn't have done it without him.”
Her mother, brother and sister back at home also remained supportive, with Watt also jokingly adding that she appreciated the fact her mother didn't sell all her bikes back home, and the fact that her family understands and appreciates how much racing means to her.
She was in the hospital throughout September, and was set to come home when doctors ran a CT scan and discovered an artery that was about to burst, which ended up prolonging her hospital stay. Fortunately, insurance covered her treatment, but Watt had others show their support.
Her fellow Team Canada racers were behind her, with teammate Melissa Harten selling her Team Canada helmet and donating the proceeds to Watt, and with Shelby Turner, a Canadian Women's West National championship winner, also donating proceeds from the auction of her jersey.
“All the people we know from racing is like a family to us too. We were so thankful for that.”
While her accident is nothing that she would like to repeat, part of Watt thinks she may still want to tackle the course again to fulfill her original goal to finish the race.
But while she didn't accomplish what she set out to do, she said she did take a lesson from the incident, one of which was to find the positives in any given situation.
“It could have been worse - I did get to come home,” she said.
From her accident, she’s also learned not to take the little things for granted, as she notes, “You never really know what can be taken from you at any time.”
