Michelle Payne, who last year became the first female jockey to win the G1 Melbourne Cup, recently underwent surgery to repair her pancreas, which was severely damaged in a fall at Mildura Racecourse last month. The 30-year-old revealed details of the injury and discussed the prospect of her return to race riding on Racing.com's Racing Ahead radio show.
“The doctors explained that I must have been stood on in the abdomen area and all the other organs can get out of the way but the pancreas is sort of stuck at the back and unable to move, and [the horse] must have stood on it against my spine and it split in two,” Payne said. “They were able to save the three quarters that was severed off and sew it to my stomach. Obviously it was pretty big surgery and in the first week I was in a lot of pain and pretty sick, but it's amazing how your body can heal. I've come a long way since then and the doctors expect it to progress really well.”
Payne noted that some family members are urging her to retire, and that she'll consider all options as her recovery progresses.
“I had quite a few arguments before and against about coming back to riding in that first week when I was pretty sick, but it's just something that I want to take my time to make my decision,” she said. “I think I'll know my gut feeling whether to come back or not, and it's obviously a pretty big decision and one that I don't want to rush into. If I do want to make a comeback it takes a lot of dedication and a lot of energy to do that, so I've got to really want to put everything into it, so I just want to make sure I'm definitely 100% when I do make that decision.”
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