Franny's story: a reason to be cyclist aware
Donation protected
Many of you will already know Fran, she’s an incredible woman who many of us take inspiration from with her “go-get-em” lease on life. For those of you who don’t know Fran she is a devoted mother to two gorgeous twin girls, a loving wife to husband Nick, a wonderful friend and family member to endless individuals in her life, a caring compassionate and incredibly knowledgeable veterinarian, a ironwoman/triathlon trainer and lover in her spare time, and to put it simply: an individual who will brighten the world you live in if you have the pleasure of knowing her.
In May 2022, whilst out cycling with her husband in Hobart Tasmania, Fran was hit by an inattentive driver. She sustained two broken lumbar vertebrae, suffered a severe concussion resulting in memory loss from 2 days prior to and 7days following the event, a traumatic brain injury, whiplash and extensive soft tissue injuries. 18 months later and her recovery is far from over. Fran suffers ongoing pathological fatigue, pressure headaches, brain fog, memory loss, dizziness from her traumatic brain injury. She struggles for days on end to leave her bed or to carry out what would be even the simplest tasks for you and me. She has gone from long distance triathlon training in excess of 25hrs/week, to being unable to exercise for even 30minutes a day. Documenting this journey on her social media page A Twin Mum’s Journey To Ironman And Beyond (link below), Fran writes about how this debilitating condition steals precious time from her as a mother: where she misses out on precious time creating memories with her twin daughters due to being bed bound, a wife: where she struggles to attend events/spend time training with her husband, a vet: where her memory loss and fatigue prevents her from doing the job she loves and is incredibly skilled and passionate about. She speaks of a loss of identity and her sense of self due to medication side effects, the lasting physical and mental effects of this horrific event, and how the crippling PTSD she has developed plagues her dreams and thoughts, despite having no recollection of the actual event due to memory loss.
Today Fran faces a new challenge, recovery from a major surgery to remove the intervertebral disc that ruptured as a result of the chronic inflammation caused by the whiplash she sustained from the accident. This surgery, requiring 5 days hospitalisation and a six-month recovery period means for the next six months Fran cannot lift or care for her girls, carry out any of the exercises she loves, drive her car, maintain her house, work as a vet, or even temporarily care for herself. All of this is because for one split second, a driver was inattentive.
My name is Monique, I am a friend of the family and I have created this page for anyone wanting to help assist this beautiful family through Fran’s recovery. Any donation, whether it’s to buy Nick and Fran a coffee date, or help cover a week’s cleaning expenses, will go a long way to providing them with some additional support during what has been and will go on to be a very difficult period in their lives.
The fund-raising goal is an estimation of expenses to cover 3 hrs housecleaning and 1 day in childcare for the twins per week for the next 12months. My goal for this project is simply to show Fran and Nick that we are here for them in whatever capacity we can provide, and to cheer Fran on so that she can get back up on her feet to restart her training for that next Ironman we are all so eager to see her complete.
Anyone wanting to follow Fran’s journey can read her raw, heartfelt, brutally honest, courageous and damn straight inspiring posts on her page A Twin Mum’s Journey To Ironman And Beyond
Please remember, cyclists have as much of a right to be on the road as you do in your car. Check your blind-spot when overtaking or turning, and leave an appropriate distance between your car and the bike when overtaking. Be cyclist aware #saferoadsforsafecycling