RACHEL OLIVER

Rachel is the mother of 3 children, aged 18, 14 and 12. She moved to a farm near Owen Sound in 1981 where she published 2 cartoon books about horse racing, worked in retail management and won awards for her silk painting.

Her horse cartoons adorned a line of t-shirts, cards, memo pads and calendars in 50 stores. As demand increased, Rachel found that a morning jog of 5km helped her to focus on her work. While jogging on May 6, 1997 she was hit by a car and her whole life was changed.

Airlifted to London where she spent 5 days in a coma, she needed metal rods and 4 pins in each leg, a plate in her right arm and pins in both arms. In June, she was sent to the rehab centre at the hospital in Owen Sound, bedridden, in diapers and connected to a feeding tube.

Sheer determination and a "never give up" attitude has brought Rachel to where she is today. She walks with no assistance, drives her own vehicle and has just finished writing and illustrating "Really, I'm Fine!"

Since the accident Rachel has moved from her hobby farm near Keady, where she rode and boarded horses, and now resides in rural route Owen Sound. She is already looking towards her next book and future goals include a return to jogging and horseback riding.