Nina Dobrev Seen For First Time Without Crutches In 3 Months After Horrific Bike Accident: 'I've Been Really Struggling'
Nina Dobrev is getting better.
Three months ago, Dobrev was involved in a devastating dirt bike accident. The incident led to the actress being unable to walk without assistance for months. Now, according to 'PEOPLE,' she is walking again without the help of crutches. She was seen walking with her boyfriend Shaun White using only a cane with a brace around her knee.
In a video Dobrev, 35, remarked, "Three months today marks my first and last time on an electric dirt bike. After losing control and crashing the bike - and a not-so-quick hospital visit - I found out that my ACL had completely torn off, my meniscus was torn through and I had a fracture in my tibial plateau. Not ideal."
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On Sunday, the 'Vampire Diaries' actress took to her Instagram to share aspects of her journey. "Glad I don't KNEE'D those crutches anymore. They finally got me Christopher WALKen. Okay, dad jokes aside...'Brace yourself" this is a long video and even longer caption. Last one."
"A lot of people in the comments have been asking 'what happened', 'how are you doing', 'when will you be able to walk'. Etc. I like to keep things light and funny on here. But when I first got hurt, Lindsey Vonn posted about her knee surgery and it made me feel less alone. So I decided to share my experience in the hopes that it helps others in the same situation find comfort or at least know what to expect on the long road to recovering from a torn ACL, meniscus and in my case, also a tibial plateau fracture."
"It sucks," she wrote. "I'm not gonna sugar coat it."
However, the optimistic star took the incident as a sign from the universe. "In my case, the universe wasn't not asking... it was telling me to slow down. As someone who identifies as a "highly independent person" who is also a 'busy body; that can't sit still, this has been an especially challenging time. Being immobile and having to be so dependent on others hasn't been easy. Asking for help is even harder, but I haven't had a choice," she said.
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She then went on to thank her "community of friends" who had "really showed up for me in such a beautiful way. You know who you are. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because the truth is, everyone talks about the physical pain (and yes it has been extremely painful) of an injury but seldom do they talk about the mental toll it takes. I had a lot of anxiety when I first got injured, because I didn't want to 'bother' people or be an inconvenience. I've been really struggling with the loud voices in my head that keep saying 'you're a burden'. I have some work to do still in therapy."
"My body has been so stagnant for so long, finally getting to move, and slowly start putting pressure on my leg has changed my mental state so much. I'm trying to be kinder to myself, to remind myself that this is temporary and it will get better."
She told fans how she "can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel."
