“Tests showed that both of her eye sockets were crushed, one of her tear ducts was severely damaged and her nose was gone.”
After initial assessment and treatment at the local hospi-
tal, she went on to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, the largest trauma care center in Canada. There she met Dr. Oleh Antonyshian and his team from the Plas- tics and Reconstructive Surgery Department at Sunnybrook. Tests showed that both of her eye sockets were crushed, one of her tear ducts was severely damaged and her nose was gone. She also had a concussion. And to complicate things even further, bacteria from the offending hoof contaminated the wound and caused a tumor to grow in her sinus cavity, so the tumor had to be removed and she had an intrave- nous port installed in her arm to administer daily antibiot- ics to combat the systemic infec- tion. Dr. Antonyshian and his staff have performed five surgeries thus far, with two more scheduled to complete the reconstruction of Heather’s face. Remarkably candid about her
injuries, she explains the repairs accomplished by her operations. “My eye sockets are titanium; both cheek bones are titanium. I have a metal plate going across the top of my palette. I have a metal cage to form the bridge of my nose and then this is a donor nose, because that was gone. I’m actually getting a new nose the first week of December (2016), because this is decorative, but not quite functional. I also had skin grafting over the top of the donor nose. That’s the extent of the reconstruction so far. My next two surger- ies are a nasal reconstruction and then I also have to have the tear duct reconstructed.” Even after all this, Heather talks about how lucky she is
that more damage wasn’t done. “The impact was two milli- meters from my eye; that’s how incredibly lucky I am. I kept my vision.”
Recovery and Resilience Heather knew it would be a long road back from her inju- ries. She, her family and her medical team focused on setting goals, with the first week relegated to re-learning physical independence, then weeks two through six spent recover- ing from the concussion and re-gaining short-term memory. She says she is lucky to have recovered completely from her concussive brain injury. Over two years will have passed by the time she completes all of her surgeries. The theme of resilience was part of her recovery
process and is now ingrained in her life. “Sometimes, resil- iency is found in creative solutions and asking others for help. Because I had tubes draining my face for a long time, I relied on homecare nurses to wash my hair. Don’t be afraid to rely on others and ask for their support,” she advises. “Achiev- ing small goals such as being able to walk my son to school
32 January/February 2017
led to getting back in the saddle and even riding without stir- rups again; each goal reached builds resiliency and commit- ment to improvement. Now I feel as though I am more goal- oriented and successful as an athlete, teacher and mother as a result of overcoming my challenges.” Her outlook on life was influenced greatly by her fellow
patients while recovering at Sunnybrook. The Plastic Surgery Department patients are housed on the same floor as the Palliative Care Ward, where end-of-life patients were her roommates and neighbors. Heather mentions one patient who made her realize how fortunate she was. “I remember one lady in particular, a lovely lady. I was struck by her incred- ible gratitude for life – a life well lived, the gratitude that she had for all her family members and her friends being there at her bedside. She passed away later, but I was so struck with her incredible sense of gratitude, that it allowed me to feel so very positively about the fact that my doctors could reconstruct my face and that I could rejoin my family. I really wanted to make that commitment to living a better life, to being a better person, to achieving everything that I could. And, in terms of goal setting, it really focused me personally, professionally and also in the amateur sport that I do – riding. Truly my resilience came from those people who were in the Palliative Care Ward. They are the truly inspirational ones!” Heather says that the accident also introduced other
unexpected changes in her life. “To be honest, before my accident I think, like a lot of mums, I was a little timid in terms of showing my horse and going into the ring. But after going through this experience, and particularly after seeing those who were less fortunate than myself, I think that it really
Above, left: The hospital scan of Heather’s skull after the accident. Even though she was wearing a hard hat, the hoof’s impact shat- tered both eye sockets, severed her tear duct, tore off her nose and caused a concussion. Amazingly she did not lose her sight or have damage to her teeth and jaw. Above: The McCann-Cuddy family about one year after the accident. Left to right: Patten, Brent’s West- falen jumper stallion; Brent Cuddy, Heather’s husband of 15 years; Polo, the family’s Newfoundland dog; Heather McCann-Cuddy; Sparky, their son’s pony, and Cameron, their then 5-year-old son.
Meg O’Shea of Jump-Shot Photography
Courtesy Heather McCann-Cuddy
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