Australia: Local Rider Rises to Ultimate Challenge

OutInCanberra.com.au - Full Story

Riding For Livin’
Aug 14, 2018

Last year when the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its data into the leading cause of death in 2016, suicide was the number one cause of death among people aged 15 to 44 years.

When she was just 24 years old, Canberra local, Courtney Chapman could have become part of that statistic.

“In 2015 I faced one of my hardest battles yet after struggling with depression for many years. I was a broken, fragile girl in the clutches of an all-consuming depressive episode. My autoimmune disease, Crohn’s, was rampaging my body, and I had been hospitalised seven times in the past six months. I was in a turbulent and toxic relationship and was the subject of horrific online bullying from members of the endurance horse riding community I loved so much,” Courtney said.”The weight of it all crushed me.

“That night, 28 June 2015, I almost successfully took my own life. If it were not for the fast thinking actions of some friends that were carefully watching over me, I would not be here today. I was thankfully reached in time and was able to be resuscitated, albeit with a touch and go stint in ICU for a few days. It took a little while for me to realise that I was not meant to leave the earth that day.”

Courtney is now using her life experience and challenges to break the stigma around mental health, and in sharing her personal experience hopes that others will feel comfortable in doing the same.

An endurance rider, who when she was just a 10-year-old used her love of horses to escape the clutches of a difficult life at home, will now be turning that passion into the biggest challenge of her life...

Read more here:
https://www.outincanberra.com.au/local-rider-rises-ultimate-challenge/