Community & Business
15 July, 2024
Oakey local’s poignant message
Shayla Collins-Wharton, who identifies as Aboriginal, was just walking down the street with her cousins when her leg gave way and she fell.
Shayla’s determination to embark on a journey of travel and work after becoming
an amputee is testament to the 28-year-old’s strength of character.
The Oakey local, who now lives in Toowoomba, was just 23 when she woke up in a strange bed and was told her left leg had been amputated above her knee.
Unbeknown to her, Shayla had dislocated her knee, severed arteries, and later developed a life- threatening blood clot.
“I was rushed to hospital in Brisbane and rushed into surgery.
“They said that I had a possibility of losing my leg, but I was in shock and never really knew and didn’t take it seriously,” she said.
Once awake, Shayla discovered that doctors had told her parents that if they didn’t amputate they would lose their daughter.
Waking up in hospital after being in a coma for five days was disorientating for Shayla, and she said the first thing she tried to do was move her leg to see if she still had it.
“I actually thought I still had my leg until the doctors were at the end of my bed discussing it and that’s how I actually found out,” she said.
“I was shocked because I still felt like I had feeling in my leg.
“Even today I still get that feeling and sensations and random pain, it’s just crazy.”
Shayla says it was a very traumatic experience but said her mum and family were a wonderful support during the six-months hospital stay following her amputation.
Once discharged, Shayla had to return to the hospital three times a week for physio, something she found incredibly draining.
To this day she tries to avoid the hospital at all costs.
Helping her through some of her darkest times was the love and support of her family and a deep connection to her country.
Shayla is a Kooma and Mardigan woman from her dad’s side, but she is not sure about her mother’s tribe because her family is part of the Stolen Generations.
“My family and Aboriginal culture is very important to me,” she said.
“I love learning about my culture and being on country is not only healing mentally but healing the soul.
Shayla said one of her favourite things to do is paint cultural art with her dad, four brothers and four sisters.
Last year Shayla was recognised in the 2023 Toowoomba NAIDOC Awards and received the Value and Embrace Disability Award, a category sponsored by Carers Queensland.
Toowoomba NAIDOC Committee member and Carers Queensland’s First Nations Inclusion Officer Nikki Robson said Shayla was truly deserving of the award for the way she continues to give back to the community following her accident.
“Shayla was chosen as the winner of the Value and Embrace Disability award because of her strength, resilience and determination,” she said.
“As a young Aboriginal woman living well with disability, she is a role model for others and a guiding light for young First Nations people in and around her community.”
Shayla’s family is heavily involved in the Oakey Bears Senior Rugby League Club and this year she decided to be the club’s registrar.
This is something that’s helped her re-connect with her community.
Practising self-healing is
also something Shayla values, with the young creative painting and doing craft to lift her up when she’s feeling down.
She started a small business selling her pieces, but it became stressful when orders came rolling in faster than she could make them.
“When I started doing my flower boards, word soon spread and I was getting a lot of orders,” Shayla said.
“I was getting to like six or seven orders at a time, and they take hours and hours just for one.”
Deciding to put her mental health first, Shayla shut her small business to preserve craft as a time of healing, enjoyment and relaxation.
These days Shayla is working hard with her physiotherapist to get confident walking on her prosthetic so she can travel the coast of Queensland and get back to work in hospitality.
Before her accident Shayla worked at an outside of school hours care centre at Highfields. She also worked at Uluru and the Kimberleys while undertaking a traineeship in hospitality, an experience she describes as “life-changing”.
“Being able to drive again has been awesome, and because I lost my left leg it means I haven’t had to have my car modified,” she said.
“It’s been pretty easy thanks to an occupational therapist that specialises with disabilities and driving, once I had her letter stating I’d fulfilled the requirements I was able to start driving again.”
Having her freedom back is priceless for Shayla, who admits that if someone tells her she can’t do something, she’ll find a way to do it.
“I’m actually very determined and I’m very stubborn. Just after my amputation I was told it wasn’t safe for me to hop in and out of a bath,” she said.
“But I love having hot baths, especially when you’re sick. So I said to mum, ‘I’m determined to get in this bath’ and that’s what I did.”
When reflecting on acquiring her disability, Shayla says the experience has given her more empathy for others living with disability.
“Before when I went to the shops I never really did take notice of other people, but there’s actually a fair few people getting around with amputations, and I never noticed until I was one,” she said.
