87: Day by Day with Polly Vickery

Unbroken: Healing Through Storytelling

Polly got in contact with as she had listened to the show and felt it was time to tell her own story of personal trauma and grief. This is the first time she has spoken out publicly and I was profoundly moved by our conversation.

In 2019 Polly was on holiday in France with her husband and their ten-month-old son. They were driving home from the beach when their car was hit by truck. Her son was killed instantly, and her husband Larry died in hospital a day later. She was trapped in the back of car and airlifted to hospital where she was put into a coma and woken up 3 days later. She was sure her son had died but thought Larry had just been knocked out but was then told he had died as well. She was left unable to walk due to broken pelvis and spent 3 months in a wheelchair after she finally left hospital.

She started to work on recovering physically and mentally. She decided to have another child and went on to have Florence by sperm doner… in the meantime she also met her current partner, Ben.

Before the accident she ran a fashion label with her sister, all very east London hipster, but gave it up when she had Max and got a proper job before she got pregnant. She has even pitched on Dragons Den! She’s now a web designer and living back in Bristol.

She says “To outside world I have a wonderful life, but it’s marked by the worst tragedy”

Some key points from our interview:

• How she feels that even though part of her life stopped very suddenly after the car accident, she chose to carry on living
• How she knew instantly when she saw her baby after the accident, that he had died
• How sometimes she looks back now and wonders how she has managed to cope with it all
• How her rehabilitation gave her a focus to heal herself both physically and mentally
• How even though she felt nervous about sharing her story she wants to show others that life goes on

Hosted by Madeleine Black, the show will share stories of all the amazing people Madeleine has met on her own journey as an author/speaker and these stories will heal, motivate, inspire and bring hope when they share their wisdom and knowledge with her.
She really believes in the power that comes when we share our stories, that in fact we are not story tellers but story healers. Tune in to discover what helped them to stay unbroken and together we will discover that none of us are broken beyond repair.
You can find out more about Madeleine, her story and her memoir, Unbroken, from her website: https://madeleineblack.co.uk/
Watch edited highlights on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/c/MadeleineBlackUnbroken

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