Miranda O. | Her Muscle Saved Her
The idea that CrossFit can save one’s life took on a whole new meaning for Miranda Oldroyd in June. Most people refer to the fitness methodology and growing competitive sport as “life changing” with regards to forever altering how a person looks at exercise, capacity, and nutrition. Their lifestyle is altered and their life forever changed after being introduced to the sport.
But for Miranda, CrossFit quite literally saved her life. During a June 30 (2012) CrossFit Level 1 Seminar, Miranda drove two miles down the street to grab coffee for herself and some of the seminar team. She turned left at the light with a protected green arrow and her car was immediately hit. Miranda’s intense pain kicked in immediately.
“All the airbags were deployed and the entire passengers’ side was MANGLED,” she recalls. “The door panel and glove box were almost unrecognizable. The windshield had shattered and I had glass, and coffee, ALL over me. I was bleeding but I didn’t know from where. I was too scared to look…too scared and in too much pain to move.”
Fortunately for Miranda, an ambulance was nearby and saw the entire accident go down. Paramedics rushed to her aid and pulled her out of the car on a spine board. Miranda feared she would never walk again.
The doctors ran muscle reflex tests and an x-ray of Miranda’s hand and told her that her severe neck pain was simply whiplash.
One thing that stood out most to Miranda was that doctors and paramedics told her, “If you weren’t so strong…you would be in a LOT worse shape. We have seen people killed, necks snapped, from that exact same accident. Your muscle saved you.”
The next few weeks went by in a flash – with the CrossFit Games and Miranda’s multitude of media responsibilities at the event. In her free time, she would hike, workout, and stay active. She kept having pain in her neck but hadn’t heard anything from her latest x-ray so she continued to stretch her neck and stay active.
After returning home from the Games, Miranda learned doctors were concerned about her neck x-ray results. An abnormal spot led doctors to consult with each other and realize that Miranda had a break in two places in her C2 vertebrae. Any slight bum or twist would have reduced her to paralysis for the rest of her life.
It was incredible that she’d been walking around for two weeks, much less working out. She was taken to the ER immediately and had surgery to repair the fractures and she was sent home two days later.
It is now a month and a half later. Healing quickly, Miranda just completed snatches for the first time since her accident (August 30) and has been keeping her Twitter followers up to speed on her progress through pictures and tweets. Nothing seems to slow this incredible woman down.
CrossFit ended up saving her life. Prepare for the unknown, right? As Miranda put it best:
“My ability to perform heavy cleans and handstand pushups isn’t what saved me. BUT the strength I had gained because I had been performing them regularly did. And I am so lucky…”
The Compete Every Day team’s thoughts and prayers are with Miranda as she continues to recover from this tough accident and get back to training at full strength for the sport, community, and methodology that she loves. It helped save her life.
