A BOATING accident gave Zoe Creelman a new perspective on life at a time when a new life chapter was just beginning – she was entering an honour’s year at university and things seemed to be falling into place.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Zoe lost her foot in a below-knee amputation in January 2014. Then aged 23, Zoe spent three months in Melbourne hospitals for rehabilitation and to learn to walk again.
Physical challenges proved tougher for Zoe to work through than mentally adjusting to the huge change in her life. Zoe said her spirituality had been her rock.
She hoped her journey could help offer Ballarat Clarendon College students a different perspective. Zoe was honoured to share her story at her old school, carrying the theme of ‘contentment’ and appreciating the ‘now’ for the school’s chapel program.
“The advice I could give is to think about what it is that keeps you steady in life and the most important thing is that God doesn’t change,” Zoe said. "Work as hard as you can, in class or sport, but also realise there are going to be ups and downs. Just don’t let the downs be the end.”
Zoe, who graduated College in 2008, was forced to defer her honour’s year in agriculture science at the University of Melbourne. Two years later, Zoe has completed her studies and is based in Geelong working for Southern Farming Systems.
Each session students were encouraged to walk up on to the altar on one leg, an exercise harder than most thought with all their peers watching. It was an exercise Zoe has had to adjust to in everyday life.
So much comes back to perspective. Zoe said the accident had prompted her to take a few steps back and really look at her life and what was most important.
She wanted students in her chapel sessions to know that no matter how hard things can get – and she hoped none would have to experience anything like her accident – they need to trust everything happens for a reason.
For Zoe, the experience strengthened her faith rather than test her faith.
“I was more stressing why, the reason for the accident, instead of why me,” Zoe said. “I have had so many good things come out of it like meeting new people I otherwise might not have met.”
Zoe’s chapel sessions addressed College students from grade five to year 12 to mark the start of the new school year.