Lizl and her husband Inus emigrated to New Zealand from South Africa, eventually settling in Blenheim’s wine country with their three daughters. Photo / Jessica Jones
Experts say that after a setback, it’s good to get straight back on the horse.
It’s advice that Isla van der Westhuizen has literally taken to heart.
Last year, the 7-year-old from Blenheim suffered a freak accident when one of her family’s horses bolted, kicking her in the back and stopping her heart.
“Isla had no heartbeat for 15 minutes,” says her mother Lizl of the rare medical event that almost robbed her of her youngest child.
“We honestly thought we had lost her.”
Lizl, a dental technician, and her husband Inus, a winemaker, immigrated to New Zealand from South Africa in 2006, eventually settling in Blenheim’s wine country and having daughters Izelle, 16, Lara, 14, and Isla.
A horse lover since 13, when she was given her first pony, that passion followed Lizl to her new country. “Horses are in my blood,” she says with a smile. “I always say they’re like a drug addiction.”
Lizl passed her love of horses onto her three daughters who, she says, were riding as soon as they could walk.
“I would hold the girls in the saddle and ride them around. They loved brushing the horses and our two oldest girls would even argue about who would muck out the horses’ stalls. Can you believe they were so horse-mad that they actually argued about who got to clean out the poo?!”
From a young age, the girls were taught to be careful and respectful around horses, both at the local pony club and with their own animals.
“They knew how to behave around horses, things such as not to walk behind a horse or what it means when their ears are back. Apart from a couple of minor sprains and a trip to the hospital for a mild concussion, the girls have been injury-free.”
That all changed last July, when Lizl’s husband took Izelle, Isla and her friend Tilly to check on their horses, which graze near the family’s suburban home.
“I was sick in bed, but it was the school holidays, so Inus took the girls up to feed and muck out our horses, Edna and Kygo, a 14-year-old male horse who’s always been a very quiet, calm soul.”
But that day, a loud noise from the neighbouring vineyard spooked the normally placid Kygo, sending him running across the paddock towards Isla and Tilly.
“Tilly managed to get out of the way, but Kygo ran straight into Isla’s back, knocking her over,” explains Lizl. “The blow impacted her heart and her eyes rolled back into her head.”
It turned out to be a rare condition called commotio cordis, a type of blunt-force trauma that stops the heart, one that has been reported by contact sports players after being knocked hard in a specific spot in their chests.
Inus immediately swung into action, performing CPR before the ambulance and fire brigade turned up to try to revive Isla.
“By the time I got there, Isla’s ribs were flat as a pancake, she had blue spots on her legs and they were trying to shock her heart with a defibrillator,” recalls Lizl. “It was devastating.”
Despite Lizl’s belief that she could lose her youngest daughter, her faith helped keep her going.
“I started praying and a real peace came over me,” she tells. “I thought, ‘If Isla survives, we will be OK and if she doesn’t survive, we will also be OK.’ I knew whatever the outcome, we would get through it.”
Isla was rushed to Wairau Hospital, where the team prepared for her to be sent to Wellington Hospital.
“The Wellington team came to collect Isla, but then decided she should go to Starship Hospital because the doctors didn’t know if she had suffered any brain damage or long-term issues because she’d been without oxygen for so long.”
The Starship paediatric intensive care team flew Isla by air ambulance to Auckland, where she spent 36 hours in an induced coma.
“That allowed the swelling in her brain to go down, so they could check for brain and internal damage,” says Lizl. “When she woke up, Isla was a little trooper and never cried or complained when they did all sorts of tests on her.”
Fortunately, Isla suffered only small tears in her spleen and in the wall of her heart, which have since healed.
“Isla is in perfect health now – she’s like our miracle baby,” says her mum. “She doesn’t remember anything about the accident or what happened afterwards, so I’ve made her a book with photos and details about the accident.”
For Lizl, the week the pair spent in Auckland was made so much easier by the Starship team. “All the staff were amazing and so patient. I stayed at Ronald McDonald House and they went out of their way to help me during what was one of the worst times of my life.”
It wasn’t long before Isla was back with her beloved horses, although she doesn’t like to be in the paddock if her parents aren’t there.
“It would have been fine if Isla never wanted to go near horses again,” says Lizl. “She dances, does drama and plays the piano, so she has other interests. But Isla asked if she could ride Kygo.
“She knows it was a freak accident and she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she just wants to move on.”
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