0:00
I was four falling in half
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Doctors performed multiple surgeries to help me walk, but they all failed. My mom got suggested that she couldn't take me to therapeutic riding
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I have only been worried about you being on a horse the time you were getting hurt in the competition
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In 2016, I got my first concussion. A year and a half later, I was in a small car accident
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I now have a brain injury that affects me every day, and I haven't been on a horse since last year
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Today, my assistant, Thea, is going to help me get back on the horse. It's been such a long time, so I'm really nervous
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There's a lot of things that can go wrong. Okay. Let's breathe for a little bit. I have a rare condition called arteriopulosis
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and that means that many of my joints are stiff and bent
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and that I have less muscles in my body. It affects me from the spine and down
0:54
I have a curved spine and stiff spine, and I have stiff pelvis, hips, knees, ankles, but not in my arms
1:03
So I can do many things by myself. Scrambled eggs it is
1:09
I'm better at riding than cooking, so I don't know what I'm doing here
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but on the horse, I know what I'm supposed to do. This is the confession of a Paralympian
1:20
When I was born, I looked a little bit different than I look like now
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because my spine wasn't so curved like it is now, but my legs were very folded
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Did this day I was born? Yes. You were only 30 centimeters
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Yeah. Because my knees were under my armpits? Yes. And I couldn't straighten my legs
1:41
No, it was not possible. It was so stiff. I've had five surgeries on my legs
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and it started the first one I was only two days old. At this point you were a bit over two months
1:52
Look how small your feet are. And this one is on your breast
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When was it? One year? Happy birthday. Happy birthday. This one is to stretch you at least
2:02
All this was to make me be able to walk. Yes. When I was seven years old, I had a surgery on my back
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I had a spine rod with seven screws inside me And when I was around 12 years old they discovered that my rod was broken in half They were worried that if they did something
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it could get a lot worse and I could get paralysis. So it's still inside me broken in half
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This is the x-ray from when I was a teenager. You can see the rod is broken in half here
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I had a lot of physiotherapy. I hated it because it was a lot of pain
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So my mom got suggested that she could take me to therapeutic riding
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where you ride on a horse and there is a physiotherapist there
2:47
So I was doing therapeutic riding to 19 years old when I was focusing more on dressage
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Norway is a very small country and disabled dressage riders, we are very few
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So I was just a guest on the national team in the Nordic Championship
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and I actually won that. And then I won the national championship
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Then I was a regular member of the national team. So it went really, really quickly
3:17
I have only been worried about you being a horse the time you were getting hurt in the competition
3:23
You know, when I got a whiplash? Yes. In 2016, I got my first concussion walking like a little big step
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She took a really big step. And then because my spine is completely stiff
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All the movement came out in my neck, so I did have a whiplash
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And I was so dizzy, and I almost fainted. I managed to complete my test and qualify for the Prolympics
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But when I got home, we understood that I actually got a concussion. So here's a lot from Prolympics in Rio
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It says that I've participated in the Prolympics. This is our start number
3:59
We were number 19. A year and a half later, after my first concussion, I was in a small car accident
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I had seatbelts on, but my neck and head was tossed around in the car
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This resulted that I got persistent concussion symptoms. It feels like you have a concussion at all times, and this is now eight years old
4:22
When I got my brain injury I had to stop doing grusage and that was really tough in the beginning I was very very sick so I had to lay in a dark room with no noise at all time
4:33
I couldn't even listen to a podcast or a book or music. That was the first time I really felt disabled because I couldn't do anything
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It was a dark time, but I'm luckily better now. I'm not completely recovered, but I'm on the road to recovery 100%
4:52
Today my assistant Thea is going to help me get back on the horse first time in a year
4:56
How are you? I'm good. Are you ready? Yes, I just have to change my clothes and then I'm ready
5:02
I met Thea when she applied for being my assistant and I actually knew who she was because we had the horses at the same stable
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So I hired her. Ready? Yes. Thea helps me with every daily task and she also helped me in the stable and it's her horse that I'm going to ride later
5:22
With her brain injury symptoms, she gets dizzy a lot, and also her balance has made it a little bit uncomfortable for her
5:30
So being on top of a big horse, that has proven quite a challenge
5:34
It makes me sad to see that she used to be able to do this, and she's struggling to get back into that comfortable space that she used to be
5:44
This is Carly, and she's my assistant Tia's horse. She is basically retired from the competing life
5:51
but she has been a very good horse for Birgitte to use in her para-riding
5:58
This is my very special-made, custom-made saddle. Here is a strap. I'm under here and have my legs out here
6:06
They warmed up plastic and shaped around me and 3D printed it
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And I have two whips instead of my legs. Now that she took the saddle on, I was like, oh, has she always been so tall
6:21
Getting more and more anxious now. It's always a risk to be on a horse because they are living animals
6:32
You never know what they're going to do. It been such a long time so I really nervous There a lot of things that can go wrong
6:52
Just breathe for a little bit. Yep. Are you ready to go for a little bit? Mm
6:56
Should I lead her and then you just hold on? Yeah, we can take a big turn. Yeah
7:00
You ready? Yes. This is the brain injury passenger walk
7:10
Do you think you would fall off if you tried to trot
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No, I don't think I would fall off, but it would be not very pleasant for any of us
7:21
You would probably get very dizzy. Yeah, I would get very dizzy
7:26
I started to post my riding on social media. So it started with only horse content, but I also expanded it to talk a little bit about my disability
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98% of the comments are positive. I of course get some negative comments
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I'm disabled. Of course people are asking what's wrong with my legs. Some are commenting that it's too dangerous for me to ride
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And the one thing I hate, it's when people are telling me what's dangerous for me to do
7:56
Because I always just try to do stuff and see if I can do it
8:00
Good job for the both of you. Yes. My advice to a young person with a similar condition is not to be afraid of just trying new things
8:12
When I look back at my life, I have been through a lot, but I also achieve a lot
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By sharing my story, I hope that people see that even if you are disabled or any other limit, you can still achieve a lot
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She doesn't really care about her limitations as much. More about her possibilities and opportunities
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And I think everybody has to learn from that. What I hope people take from my story is to never give up
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And don't let other people tell you what you cannot do. And you should be the one that knows your own limits
8:42
Nothing is impossible
