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 The Vagus Nerve Reset, 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.
