Jockey and mum-of-three on her life-changing injuries after horror fall

On Tuesday, November 3, 2015, while the nation was still celebrating Michelle Payne’s record-breaking win at the Melbourne Cup, mother-of-three and jockey Natalie Lye was on the other side of the country, battling for her life on a racecourse in a pool of blood.

That same day, the 32-year-old, who was riding at Nowra Races on the NSW south coast suffered life-changing injuries after her horse, Miss Danza, darted through the winning post in first place and bolted straight into a metal fence.

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Natalie was left with three smashed teeth, three pins in her broken jaw, lacerations to her legs, severed nerves in her forehead, a deep wound to her face which required nearly six hours of microsurgery and onset head trauma epilepsy, which left her blacking-out up to five times a day.

The young mother also ripped all the ligaments and muscles off her shoulder and severely fractured her elbow, meaning her hands can’t even reach behind her back.

Seven months on from the horror accident and Natalie’s life has dramatically changed, with the young mother unable to drive, attend her job as a community support care worker or even bring her kids to the playground, for fear she will blackout.

Sydney-born Natalie, who is a mother to eight-year-old Dakota, four-year-old Deakon and is also a foster mother to one child, says it’s her eldest daughter who has found it hardest to deal with the massive change in her life.

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“My daughter Dakota took it quite hard and she still struggles with it,” Natalie told Be.

“More so the time that I don’t get to spend with her.

“I can’t take her anywhere anymore and do things with her. She’s quite intelligent so she understands a lot more than I want her to.”

Natalie was unable to explain everything to Dakota until her broken jaw healed after the accident, and that was when her daughter asked her mother not to return to the racetrack.

“I sat her down and spoke to her about it and she doesn’t want me to go back race riding, but that’s more because she’s a kid and she doesn’t really understand that that’s what we do,” Natalie said.

“I really want to get back riding and getting back to everything I was doing and the fact that she doesn’t want me to get back sits in the back of my mind but at the same time in my mind I want to get back into it.”

As for her four-year-old son Deakon, Natalie says he’s a “soft thing” and doesn’t fully understand his mother’s injuries.

“He kisses the scar and he keeps telling me I love you my beautiful mum,” she said.

“He always says things like that.”

Natalie has been diagnosed with depression, which she takes medication for and is forced to rely heavily on her partner, who sometimes works from 3:30am to 6:30pm, and her mum, who has been diagnosed with Lupus, to drive her around and help out with the kids.

“Because of the blackouts I’m not allowed to drive so getting my kids around is hard,” she said.

“My mum’s trying her best to help me when she should be getting on with her own things.

“She comes over everyday to see if I need a lift to the shops to get anything like groceries or anything for the kids because my partner works quite a lot.

“When he’s home he’ll help me but as far as getting anywhere I’ve got to rely on my mum or my friend Natalie who helps me out quite a lot.”

Natalie also suffers from chronic headaches from the glare of the sun, doesn’t sleep well at night and she finds it hard to venture outside for more than a few hours.

“I have bouts of it where I’ll try to get out and do things and then I’ll just be a recluse for another couple of months,” she said.

As for her epilepsy, doctors have been unable to determine whether or not her blackouts, which last for about 30-40 seconds each, will be ongoing for the rest of her life.

“They say they could stop next week or they could be there for the rest of your life we just don’t know,” she said.

“I was having five or six a day but I’m down to about three or four a week, so it’s heaps better.”

Natalie says she doesn’t like to think about the future because it “just depresses” her as everything is still uncertain with her long-term injuries, however she remains adamant that she wants to get back to riding and her former caring job.

“Before the accident I was doing everything that I wanted to do,” she said.

“I was riding, I was being a care worker, which is a very rewarding job, and I only had a handful of main clients that I looked after.

“I miss all that because I had a great working relationship with the clients I was working with and I felt I was making a difference in their lives.

“To the outside world people go: How do you do it? How do you get back on and why do you want to get back on?”

Natalie said she doesn’t really think about the dangers, having been an avid jockey since she started out as a young apprentice for her father in Nowra.

“You just think, 'Ok well as soon as I’m fixed I’ll be back on'. While you’re going through it it’s hard but it’s part and parcel of it.”

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