Emma Carey: the Canberra woman who survived a 14,000-foot fall

Emma Carey is a Canberra writer and speaker whose survival of a catastrophic skydiving accident has made her one of the city''s most recognised voices on resilience. In June 2013, aged 20, Carey was on a tandem skydive in Switzerland when both the main and reserve parachutes deployed at once and became tangled, sending her and her instructor falling thousands of metres to the ground.

The fall and the recovery

Carey survived, but the impact left her with a spinal cord injury, along with a fractured pelvis, sacrum and jaw. Doctors told her she was unlikely to walk again. Against that prognosis, she took her first assisted steps within months and went on to walk, while continuing to manage the lasting effects of the injury.

Her best friend, who had travelled with her and jumped the same day, stayed by her side throughout the recovery. The two had been friends since primary school in the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Carey told her story in the bestselling memoir The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, and has built a large following sharing an honest, often raw account of living with chronic injury and finding meaning afterwards. She has become a sought-after speaker, and her story has been picked up by national and international media as an example of recovery against the odds.

For Canberra, Carey is a local figure whose work reaches far beyond the city, and a regular presence in conversations about resilience and mental health.

Sources: canberratimes.com.au, hercanberra.com.au.

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