Judo star Stephanie Inglis isn’t giving up on her dream to fight again

JUDO star Stephanie Inglis is refusing to give up on her dream of representing Scotland once again – a year after winning the biggest fight of her life.

The 28-year-old judoka was given just a 1% chance of survival by medics after she was critically injured in a motorcycle taxi accident in Ha Long, Vietnam in May last year.

Despite the bleak outlook, Stephanie made a remarkable recovery and as the first anniversary of the accident approaches, she told The Sunday Post she is “80% of the way there”.

She won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and admits the desire to reach those heights again is fuelling her recovery.

That’s despite her surgeon advising her that the head injuries she suffered mean a return to judo is too risky.

“I’m not going to give up on judo, I’m not ready to,” she said. “I defied the odds coming back from a 1% chance of survival to now looking at a 100% recovery, so why should I?

“I’ve done it my whole life and I still feel like I have something to give.

“It might not happen but until I’ve tried, I’m not willing to say I’m done.”

After such a remarkable recovery, few would bet against her achieving her goal.

After waking from a four-week coma, medical specialists had to tear up Stephanie’s treatment plans as the athlete was progressing much quicker than expected.

She battled to survive, despite her insurance company refusing to pay out, meaning she had to wait more than 32 hours before medical treatment began.

Worried doctors treated her for infections she picked up in hospital in Vietnam and she was well enough to be flown back to Scotland in June last year.

An online crowdfunding campaign started by her childhood friend Khalid Gehlan raised more than £300,000 to pay for her medical costs.

Before her accident, Stephanie had been offered a job as a graduate trainee manager with car rental firm Enterprise and was due to start once she returned from Vietnam, where she had been teaching children.

The firm kept her job open and three weeks ago she started working there two days a week.

Stephanie said: “I’m getting back to a normal life.

“I’m 80% there with my recovery now, I’m so close to being able to do the things I want but I get pulled up by my occupational therapist for trying to rush things.

“Last year it seemed like I was so far away from where I wanted to be and it was depressing thinking ‘when am I ever going to get back to normal?’

“Since then I’ve made a lot of progress. Another year and the accident will just be a distant memory and I’ll be completely back to normal.”

The support of dad Robert and mum Alison has been key to Stephanie’s recovery, but the fiercely independent athlete admits it has been difficult to adjust to living back at home in Daviot, near Inverness. She hopes to move back to her old flat in Dunfermline within 12 months but in the meantime she will concentrate on her new job, plus helping her dad out with his judo coaching and inching towards her goal of competing in the Commonwealth Games in 2022.

“I won’t be reckless about competing again. I’ll listen to the advice of professionals,” said Stephanie.

“But it’ll be my own decision. One surgeon told me that the brain is like any other muscle so if you injure it, once it’s healed then it’s healed.

“Judo has been a huge part of my life and I’d rather try everything I can than have to look back in 20 years and say ‘what if?’”