“Now I see life very differently. I appreciate the moment and value the little things. I am aware that everything can change quickly. You can even die. It’s scary, but it’s the way to know how to enjoy yourself because in the end nothing is as serious as it seems. Every night I tell my family that I love them, unlike before, just in case I can never do it again.” What explains Imogen Cotter they are not empty words, even if she says them with a smile while looking at the blue color of the sky and breathing the peace that emanates from Montilivi when there is not a soul in the stadium. She is grateful to live. The Irish cyclist he was born again last January 26, 2022 mandarin a van ran her over while training at the road from Fornells de la Selva to Llambilles. The driver, who had recently lost his driver’s license, was going in the opposite direction and was passing another cyclist who was going in the same direction, invaded the lane in which Cotter was traveling and take ahead He did not slow down or stop to help her. He was about to end his dreams in his first year as a professional.
“I remember seeing the van head on and thinking: why is it coming in the opposite direction in my lane? Then everything went very fast. I thought I was going to die right there at that very moment. Then I heard the heavy impact against the vehicle, very loud, and my scream was cut off by hitting the glass. I don’t know anything else. I woke up on the road. It was like my brain had switched off, like I was sleeping. It’s funny because I don’t remember the pain, and I suffered a lot of injuries,” says Cotter. He was lucky that the cyclist passing by on the same roadto which the van was advancing, he stopped to help her because the driver is donava on the run. “He has never come to worry about me. I know who he is, also who his parents are… I find it crazy because if I had been the one in the car I would have stopped immediately. My God”, he regrets.
I was debuting as a professional and it had to be the best year. Assimilating the accident was very hard
The hardest part of it all was “processing it”. “That day I was born again. At the beginning it is very scary to think that you were about to die. I had a few therapy sessions which helped a lot. You could say that I am part of the survivors club. I constantly asked myself: why me?, am I special? I’m sure he could have died. The accident had been so serious that she did not understand how she could continue to live. I was thinking about it all the time. I couldn’t distract my mind in any way…», he says.
Having the support of the sports community helped Cotter to keep his spirits up. “A lot of people threw themselves into my recovery and supported me, not just the cyclists,” he admits. Girona FC was one of the clubs that contacted the Irish: “They sent me a message of encouragement and asked me for the address to send me a shirt signed by the entire staff. It was a very nice detail. There the relationship began. I didn’t know the team before because I had just moved to Girona on January 1st. Apart from that he didn’t follow football either. I was always just obsessed with cycling, but now I really like it and I am a supporter of Girona FC».
During the recovery period, Cotter had to pass five times per operating room. “There were two operations on the knee and three on the wrist. I still need another one on my wrist, which I think will be at the end of the year, because I don’t have good mobility. He didn’t have any on his knee either. I was unable to walk for three months because he couldn’t move his leg, which was stiff”, he says. The “best place” to do the recovery was Girona: «My family came at first. My mother stayed here for the first month and my sister also visited, but they have their lives and work in Ireland. For me, staying in Girona was very good because many athletes live there and there are good physios, doctors, facilities… In Ireland they are not so prepared because I live far from the capital and the weather there is gray. Mentally it would have been even more difficult.”
In the end it is turning out to be just another anecdote, despite the fact that at the beginning it was not at all easy for the cyclist from the Belgian team Phoenix Deceuninck. “It was my first year as a professional and the most important so far in my career. I had been working hard for over ten years to be one in the future… Also, I had recently been given the special jersey for the Irish National Championship and it was very exciting for me. I was expecting an exciting season. But suddenly I thought my dreams were over because of the accident. That was huge, it consumed me inside”, he says.
However, Cotter never threw in the towel. “As I thought I would never ride a bike againbecause I might not walk again, I considered being paralympic athlete. I took going to the pool seriously…” he exclaims. Despite everything, “mentally she was very positive”. So much so, that he strove valiantly to recover his dreams. “In mid-May, about four and a half months after the accident, I took the bike again. It was very frustrating… Not only was it hurting, I was scared. very much When I was going up there, I thought I was going to fall, they were going to crush me… I was terribly afraid of cars. What if I stopped living at that moment? It wasn’t healthy at all,” he says.
Little by little, Cotter has been regaining his confidence on the bike and even he has competed again: «In the first competition, in September, I was terrified because the pilot is chaos and I was nervous. But it’s what I love the most and I’m lucky to have the support of my team. I enjoy it to the fullest.” “I’m not so afraid anymore, although if a car passes me nearby I get excited and scream like crazy. What are they doing?! Before the accident I thought internally that they were idiots, but now I verbalize it but because I get very angry. I have to control it. In the end, I react like this because I’m afraid”, he adds.
Currently, Cotter is living a “normal” life again. He has recovered 95% of the mobility of his knee – not yet of his wrist – and trains in Girona, which is “motivating because some of the best cyclists in the world live there”. “I can go out to riding with people I admire and respect, it’s brilliant”, he says. It also collaborates with a campaign ofSkoda in Ireland on road safety. Moreover, it has been done Girona FC fan. “I was blown away by the energy in Montilivi on match days. It’s incredible. I love the behavior of the fans because they never stop cheering. From the opening whistle. The team has one more supporter. I will be the number one fan!”, she concludes.