Road to recovery: Aspen mountain biker Annabelle Francis back in gym after major fall
Rhianna Borderick/Courtesy photo
A leaking pancreas hasn’t stopped Annabelle Francis from getting back to the gym.
On June 21, the venerable 17-year-old Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club (AVSC) athlete suffered a bad injury after crashing on her bike while preparing for the Northwest Cup in Tamarac, Idaho. The aftermath included a two-week stay in a Bosie hospital.
Two days after she got back home to Aspen, a bad staph infection and leaking pancreas forced her to be airlifted to Denver. There, doctors installed a drain where her pancreas leaked.
Almost immediately following her release from Denver Children’s Hospital, she returned to the AVSC gym to begin training again. She has been on the stationary bikes and arm workouts and hopes to be back to get some end-of-the-season biking in.
“I walked in (to the AVSC gym), and I was just warm,” she said. “The first day I was able to do 10 miles on the stationary bike, and after I left, I felt more energized and in less pain and more at peace than I had felt in the past month.”
Francis, ranked eighth in the Freeride World Tour junior circuit, was preparing for a national mountain bike tournament before her crash. So despite weeks of time in the hospital and several major procedures, she was more than eager to begin her recovery as soon as she returned home.
“The first eight or nine days after the first procedure, I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink water, so I didn’t even feel like recovering was a possibility,” she said. “I saw no light at the end of the tunnel.”
With all of the medications and instruments she was on in the hospital, she had trouble moving, let alone being the active athlete she had been.
“I just felt like a shell of myself, and that was a really scary state to be in,” she said. “When I started getting a bit antsy in the hospital, I wanted to do stuff, but I was in so much pain. That was definitely the hardest part of not being able to do what I love most.”
The community surrounding her continued to show support immediately following her crash. The day Francis got out of surgery, a GoFundMe was set up to support her medical costs which raised $51,100. She was overwhelmed with messages, cards, and packages from friends, family, and people she didn’t know. Family from New Zealand offered to fly out to drive her back to Aspen from Boise.
“We felt so much love, and it was amazing to see how many people were willing to sacrifice a lot for us,” she said. “Locals set up a fundraiser for me, aside from the GoFundMe, where they set up an ice cream truck that’s been in town for the past week.”
Her recovery was in part facilitated by the AVSC staff like her coach, Rhianna Borderick, the AVSC female freeride head coach and AVSC’s athletic trainer Erin Young. Francis’ current recovery process is anywhere between two to over three months, but she has been able to begin training and rebuilding strength again.
“To get another setback with an infection and have to be evacuated to Denver Children’s Hospital is just another blow. It’s like you’re out in the water surfing, and you get blasted from each wave the next.” Borderick said. “To watch her treat it with such resiliency is truly inspiring as a coach or for anybody to see. Her work ethic is much higher than anyone I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, and she’s only a teenager.”
