A Dundee University student is set to graduate eight years after sustaining life-threatening injuries that resulted in multiple disabilities.
Lynn Ashdown, from Ottawa, Canada, has recently completed a Master’s degree in Medical Education.
She had just finished her final exams to become a consultant in 2014 when she collapsed suddenly because of a previously undiagnosed heart condition.
As she fell lifelessly, Lynn suffered a traumatic brain injury, broke her neck, and suffered spinal cord damage in addition to the cardiac arrest.
Doctors managed to save Lynn’s life but, upon emerging from a coma, she was told she might have minimal speech and there was a possibility of quadriplegia.
Lynn’s next few months were spent in intensive care, and she remained in hospital for over two years, all the time battling to overcome that initial prognosis.
She slowly learned how to talk again and can now use a manual wheelchair but remains impaired cognitively.
She can no longer drive and will always require extensive medical and social care support to live in the community.
But Lynn’s experiences have made her determined to change the medical profession for the better.
Not only did Lynn achieve her Masters in Medical Education – an incredible achievement for someone facing significant neurological challenges – but she achieved a distinction for her dissertation.
Describing her journey, Lynn said: “I had to come back from nothing after my accident.
“It's been a long eight years as I had to learn to talk again and to adapt to not being able to walk and being a wheelchair user.
“I had a fantastic medical education, but my experiences taught me that the human element is missing from the textbook skills we learn about how to diagnose and treat.
“We don't include patients in medical education at all.
“It’s taken me a while to accept that I won't be going back to clinical practice but what I want to do now is to elevate the patient experience in all areas of health care.
“Everything we do in medicine, exists for the patient but they are often not given a voice.”
And she added: “I look back on certain experiences and think now how I would have done things differently.
“For example, one day a nurse appeared at my bedside and told me to take some medication.
“I had to ask what it was for and was told it was an antibiotic to treat a urinary tract infection. I didn't even know they were testing my urine, let alone that I had a UTI.
“There are almost 300 medications I can't take in case they send me into cardiac arrest again, and they were trying to give me one of them.
“Eventually it got resolved, but what struck me was that had I not been a doctor, I would have been given, and taken that contraindicated medication.”
Lynn aims to continue her research and activism after Graduation, which she will be unable to attend in person due to her complex health needs.
She is also working on a book based on her dissertation and wants to act as an example of how disability need not stop people from pursuing their dreams.
- The University’s Graduation ceremonies take place at Caird Hall from 22-24 June.
**Don't miss the latest headlines from around Dundee and Tayside. Sign up to our newsletters here
And did you know Dundee Live is on Facebook? Head over to our page to give us a like and a share
