From coma to World Cup in three years – Burton savours comeback

Pool A of the Rugby World Cup for women: England v. Australia

Brighton and Hove Albion Stadium Date: Saturday, September 6th, 2017 Kick-off: 17:00 BST

The emotions started to flow as Abi Burton listened to the God Save the King ring ring out in Franklin’s Gardens.

My eyes started to fill up as we sang the anthem, and I was like, “Stop it, stop it,” she told BBC Sport.

Those tears made people proud. Not just because of making it to the Rugby World Cup debut, but also because it will be the tournament’s first appearance.

The England flanker was unconscious three summers ago.

Burton initially appeared unwell a few months after returning from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. She was 22 years old, depressed, and had no energy.

Doctors assumed that Burton’s severe knee injury had had an impact on his mental well-being.

However, things sprang. As she and her mother sat around the dinner table, Burton experienced a seizure. Her attitude turned manic. She slapped her mother in the face. She attempted to headbutt her younger brothers and leave the house unclothed. The kitchen knives were hidden by her family because they were worried about what Burton might do next.

She was taken to a Wakefield psychiatric ward, where doctors performed tests for bipolar or schizophrenia. and discovered that she lacked neither.

Burton continued to be distressed despite not receiving a diagnosis.

A specialist in autoimmune disease eventually discovered that Burton’s mental symptoms had an underlying physical condition. A recent blood test revealed the presence of autoimmune encephalitis, a rare condition where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the brain.

Burton, however, was too agitated to handle. Therefore, her family had to make the difficult choice to put her in a medically-induced coma. It was scheduled to last three days. It ended up lasting almost four weeks.

Her parents would sleep next to their daughter in the hospital car park. Burton may only have brain damage when he is released from a coma, according to them. Or perhaps no awakening at all.

She had lost more than three stone in weight when she finally recovered from her coma, walking, talking, reading, or writing.

“When you wake up, you think you’re alright,” Burton says, “the one thing really sticks with me.”

I just fell asleep under the weight as they took me up the stairs to attempt to climb them.

“I couldn’t understand why my body couldn’t do something so fundamental.” That’s when I realized that the recovery process might take a little longer than I had anticipated.

Former Sevens team-mates Burton and his teammates were competing at a home Commonwealth Games in Birmingham while this private trauma took place.

Burton’s ability to reach these heights seemed unlikely.

She joined the Premiership Women’s Rugby side Trailfinders Women in 2023 and made the Great Britain Sevens team for Paris the following summer after undergoing intensive rehabilitation for a year.

On her Six Nations debut against Wales, Burton scored two tries off the bench and was named in John Mitchell’s Six Nations squad for this year’s tournament.

Burton is aware that not every success appears on the scoresheet when she won on Saturday to defeat Samoa 92-3.

She recalls that she saw my grandparents, her parents, and my brother in the audience while singing the anthems.

It was simply incredible and exceptional. They all experienced emotional suffering.

They have endured hell and hell over the past few years, and now that my parents can see that my two younger brothers are doing the same, we just want to experience those family moments together.

In the crowd were additional well-wishers. At Franklin’s Gardens, one of the Team GB doctors also visited.

She discovered a photo of Burton in her phone as they met after the game.

“She had visited me in hospital almost three years ago,” Burton recalls.

“Wow, that actually did happen,” I said as I tried not to think too much about the journey or to just get my head in the rugby.