The BUSY Group assist many individuals to attain goals that might once have seemed out of reach. We regularly witness young people at our BUSY School campuses achieve great things, after having previously been overlooked or underestimated in mainstream education. We also witness adults, from all walks of life, who are overcoming adversity or making recoveries that allow them to reimagine what their futures can be.
The situations people are facing when they first seek help through the many education, training or employment programs The BUSY Group deliver, might be the consequence of a lifelong condition or a longstanding situation. But the challenge can also be caused by accident, injury or illness when, in a split second, the possibilities of a life can seem reduced.
The latter has been the experience for Shaunni, The BUSY Group’s Engagement Lead for Wales.
As a young girl, Shaunni didn’t (in her own words) ‘fit the mould’. More of a tomboy, when it came to physical education (PE), she didn’t want to take part in dance classes with the girls, she wanted to take on the boys at rugby.
For as long as she can remember, Shaunni’s safe place has been sport. Encouraged by her mum, she took up Taekwondo when she was just four and by eight she was one of the youngest people ever to be awarded a black belt. In time, she would go on to be selected to represent Wales at six different sports, to play rugby union in the Women’s Welsh Premiership and to be made captain of the Wales Rugby League team.
And then, in 2021, Shaunni suffered the injury that changed everything. The ligaments in her left knee were all ruptured, her tibia, fibula and femur were fractured and there was compression damage to her femoral artery. The day after the injury, she remembers asking a consultant how long it would be until she could resume her rugby career. The harsh reality was revealed when he indicated that Shaunni would never play rugby again and that it was possible, given the profound nature of the injury, that she may even struggle to walk properly.
The injury required major reconstructive surgery. The attempt at some kind of repair required a hamstring graft from her right leg because the left one was so badly damaged. As she shuffled around the hospital ward on her Zimmer frame, Shaunni watched patients in their eighties in the aftermath of their knee and hip replacements performing rehabilitative exercises that were beyond her and she watched them, one by one, be discharged before her.
In the smallest of incremental steps, Shaunni had to learn to walk all over again – at first with the Zimmer frame, then on crutches and eventually unaided. Eighteen weeks after her surgery, immersed in an intensive rehabilitation programme of ‘blood, sweat and tears’, aided by a supportive medical team and with a physiotherapist who she hired herself and describes as ‘absolutely incredible’, Shaunni ran a handful of steps for the first time. Nineteen months later she made her return to competitive rugby. She is now back playing Rugby League for Cardiff Demons and Rugby Union with Pontyclun Falcons in the Women’s Welsh Premiership.
It’s a level of dedication and commitment that Shaunni also brings to her day job at The BUSY Group. As The BUSY Group’s Engagement Lead for Wales, Shaunni is developing partnerships with likeminded people and organisations across Wales, showcasing the work that The BUSY Group does and building the foundations that will see The BUSY Group assist individuals and communities to thrive and realise their potential.
Shaunni’s story is one of remarkable perseverance, but it’s also the story of someone finding the right support, placing their trust in others and making a sometimes challenging journey together. BUSY knows that with the right attitude and support in place, all challenges can be overcome.
Shaunni had major reconstructive surgery and a long rehabilitation period but with determination and support, she returned to rugby league to represent Wales.
Shaunni (third from left) representing Wales vs England in 2023.
