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She couldn’t hold back her tears as she was called on stage to receive her certificate.
“I just had this feeling of overwhelming gratitude," says Jay-Dee Meyer, who recently graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a degree in electrical and electronic engineering. "I felt so proud of myself. I didn’t think it was possible, but here I was getting this degree that I know I deserved.”
There was a time when the 24-year-old thought she'd never graduate. This was back in 2022 following the horrific accident in which she injured her spinal cord, leaving her paralysed from the hips down.
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Jay-Dee was always adventurous and had a tradition of climbing a giant electrical guitar outside a music store in Stellenbosch every time she and her friends were out dancing.
But on that fateful night of 2022, the guitar was taken down for painting, so she decided to rather climb a tree near the shop.
Jay-Dee was four metres up the tree, posing for a photo, when she suddenly heard a cracking sound from the branches. She then fell, landing on her back on the pavement below.
“I dislocated and fractured my spine," she says.
After undergoing surgery, Jay-Dee had to spend six weeks at a rehabilitation centre where she learnt how to adapt to her new life in a wheelchair.
She also attended therapy sessions for her mental and emotional wellbeing.
“I realised that I do have a person to mourn. I have lost something that was really big to me and it started coming out with little things. Like, I'm never going to feel the feeling of beach sand on my feet. I'm never going to walk down the aisle, that was also a big thing for me to adjust to because like a lot of girls, we picture ourselves on our wedding day walking down the aisle,” she says.
When she went back to university, she doubted herself and started questioning if she’s supposed to be studying engineering.
“In those times I felt like I couldn't open my books or like I couldn't get through the sums and I couldn't figure it out."
At her graduation, she couldn't help but reflect on how far she has come.
Jay-Dee says the moment she made peace with the fact that she might never walk again, her journey became easier.
“That doesn't mean that I've given up all hope that I'm never going to walk, but it’s easier for me to focus on the achievable goals.”
Jay-Dee gives credit to her support system, which consists of her parents Clinton and Nicki, her big brother Liam and all her friends who were there through her darkest, most challenging times.
She says she is privileged to have people who would drop everything to help her out, physically, emotionally and financially.
Almost a year and a half since the fall, Jay-Dee says she is grateful be as independent as she is today.
A few weeks before she graduated, she started her first job as a control engineer at Sasol in Sasolburg.
This meant she had to pack everything up to relocate to the Free State town where she lives alone. She drives an automatic car that’s adjusted to suit her needs and cooks for herself, which she loves doing.
She also recently started learning how to play the bass guitar.
“I still do the things that I enjoy. A spinal cord injury is a life sentence, but it's not a death sentence,” Jay-Dee says.
If she had to do everything over, she would still climb up that tree.
Since the accident there've been challenging times, but there have also been plenty of positive changes, she says.
“I needed things to change in my life. I was struggling with life before my accident. I was struggling with loneliness, and a sense of depression and I didn't know how to handle these things,” Jay-Dee explains.
While she misses her loved ones in Stellenbosch, she uses tools such as self-help books to keep her motivated.
While she was at varsity Jay-Dee had a bursary from Sasol and now she has a three-year contract with the company.
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“It's actually a privilege to hire someone with a spinal cord injury because you're hiring someone who has perseverance, character and also just a lot of empathy,” she says.
Jay-Dee sees herself moving into the renewable energy sector in future. In addition she hopes to run workshops on her six-week “independence plan” to help people with spinal cord injuries navigate their new life.
“We need to understand that happiness in life isn't the absence of problems, it's the ability to overcome them. And that's what this whole experience has been for me. It's been a huge learning curve, but it’s what we call post-traumatic growth because I used this terrible experience as an opportunity to grow and understand myself better,” she says.
“I love the person that this accident has forced me to become.”
