Imagine you’re on your first roller-coaster ride at the tender age of 10: The anticipatory thrill. The whoosh of air that sends your hair skywards as you swing round that first loop. It’s a rush like no other. But then … slam! Your cart collides with one in front of you that has malfunctioned and stopped in its tracks, throwing your body forward with a dodgemlike bang that breaks bones and permanently damages your heart.
“Statistically, the chance of being injured in a roller-coaster accident is only one in 24 million, so it’s shocking that it happened to me,” notes counsellor Anna Ferguson, author of (Penguin Random House, RRP $35), who says the trauma of that accident not only caused physical injury but also affected her nervous system, leading to years of mental health struggle.
