Briana Rees, also known as Minnie, is a home-style cook whose career is quickly taking shape, following an unexpected accident during her OE. Photo: Cloe Willetts
Briana Rees, also known as Minnie, is a home-style cook whose career is quickly taking shape, following an unexpected accident during her OE. Photo: Cloe Willetts
In a hospital bed in Greece, Briana Rees lay recovering from a freak accident that had ended her much-anticipated OE, the twist of fate paving way for a life-changing food-related career pursuit.
Cast in an exterior of screws and protruding bolts, the 22-year-old Paraparaumu local's right leg had just undergone surgery at Filiates General Hospital, in Thesprotia, after a dramatic waterslide accident on June 23.
An x-ray showing permanent plates inserted in Briana Rees' tibia and fibular bones and ankle joints, which were fractured during a freak hydroslide accident in Greece.
"My holiday pretty much ended when I went down a hydroslide during a stop-off from sailing around Greece, and my foot slammed into the bottom of the pool and hit the concrete, taking all the impact," said Briana, nicknamed Minnie.
"The group of people I was with told me not to look down, and when I did I saw my leg was kind of hanging there.
"I couldn't feel anything at the time because my body was in shock."
Alone in her thoughts as her best friend left to continue with her travels, Briana spent a lonely 11 days in hospital, thinking about what was important to her in life.
"Lying in a bed for days on end, with nothing to do and no one to talk to, gave me a lot of thinking time.
"For a while I'd been wanting to share my love of cooking and I knew then that, when I finally got home, I wanted to use my spare time to create a food blog."
Two months on and the bubbly Paraparaumu local is back in Kapiti and recovering from multiple surgeries for a dislocated leg, shattered ankle and fractures to her tibia and fibular bones.
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With memories of the incident still fresh, Briana recalled being taken to the remote hospital an hour out of town, where no one spoke English and only single doses of paracetamol were given to ease her pain.
"It was a nightmare, but I got used to it," she said.
"In Greece they don't nurse you like they do over here.
"They don't change you, or give you new bedding or shower you, because it is all up to the family.
"Obviously I didn't have any family there, so I just had to look after myself and get the wheelchair and try and bath myself."
In a public hospital stay that lasted a week, before she was transferred to a private hospital four-and-a-half hours away, Briana had her leg prepped for her eventual journey home, and a permanent plate inserted.
"I had no idea what they were going to do to my leg. I thought they might plaster it, and I woke up with all of this metal coming out of it."
Having returned home via a 36-hour business class flight thanks to insurance, which covered the estimated $20,000 incurred from her accident, Briana was accompanied by a nurse from England, who passed her on to an ambulance at Wellington Airport.
Taken to Wellington Hospital, where she waited another four days for a second surgery, she was finally sent home for good four days later.
Now, in the midst of new beginnings after reuniting with her family on July 5, the young innovator of fresh and wholesome home-style recipes is bringing her passion to life.
"I've realised how much I want to cook and my next goal, once I've fully recovered, is to go to London to be a live-in chef."
Incorporating a diverse range of unique and easy-to-follow recipes in her new blog, she hopes the platform will build an international following.
With more than 400 views gathered in the first two days of sharing her blog online, things look promising.
"I've been cooking since I was about 10 and I'm finally enjoying having the time to be creative."
Eager to fill her blog as quickly as she does her friends' stomachs, while she trials her evolving collection of recipes, Briana is also working on customised long-term meal plans.
While her own long-term plans sit differently than a couple of months ago, when she left home with a desire to spend the year travelling, she now has new adventures to look forward to.
"Of course I'm gutted about my leg, but if it hadn't happened, I would've never thought to do my blog or to be a live-in cook in London.
"Now I'm doing exactly what I've always wanted to."
