A rueful message on my phone from Sonja Johnson read “I suppose I should confess I am in hospital in Perth with a broken pelvis”. So what happened? I was half expecting a story about an itinerant ram (if you don’t understand why, you need to read Sonja’s story in An Eventful Life) but no, it was during a jumping session at home on Edward – Sonja’s 5 year old future star. Unfortunately Edward stumbled on landing – as young horses do – but Sonja was determined to stick on. Although the mind was willing, the body (or at least her pelvis) was slightly weaker and it literally snapped apart as she hung on! The result is a dislocated pubic synthesis, which is apparently the joint that is designed to expand in females to allow for childbirth (if any doctors are reading this, forgive any inaccuracies) but Sonja is fairly sure it won’t be expanding in the future! The dislocation then caused a fracture on the back left hand side and front right hand side of her pelvis. Ouch! This happened a week last Tuesday when Sonja was taken to Albany hospital then, with the help of the WA Institute of Sport and a great doctor, Sonja convinced them that she is not just ANY 43 year old woman but that she needed to heal REALLY well so that she can be 150% fit to continue her campaign towards London 2012. She was airlifted by the fantastic Royal Flying Doctor Service to Perth and she is now fairly comfortable after an operation (despite 2 inch screws in her pelvis!) and full of very poor jokes so we know she is on the mend! 
As always in these circumstances great friends and family support come to the fore. Unfortunately Dan (Sonja’s dad) had a mild stroke recently but is recovering well and Sonja and Dan are enjoying telephone conversations during which neither can remember what they’ve said! So best wishes to Dan too for his recovery but also to poor Phoebe (Sonja’s mum) who is managing to cope with all of this! Good friend and para equestrian medallist Sharon Jarvis is helping Sonja’s groom, Nat Hibbert to keep Sonja’s top horse Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison (Ben) in full work at owner Nikki Brooks’ beautiful Brookleigh Estate in Perth while Tegan Lush took Belfast Mohito, owned by Simon and Rebecca Bell and usually competed by Sonja, to the Brookleigh CIC** last weekend and won! We all know that Sonja will not be down for long and she is planning to attend Melbourne 3 Day Event even if it is only on the sidelines to help Tegan who will be riding Mohito in the Two Star class. We’ll be providing regular updates about Sonja’s recovery and look forward to seeing her at Melbourne 3 Day Event in June
