I fell 130ft from a cliff and now I have to learn to walk again

A mum-of-two faces having to learn to walk again after falling 130ft from a cliff while at a beauty spot.

Leah Matthews and her partner Anthony decided to go for a dog walk in mid Wales' Waterfall Country on 4 October, but it ended with Leah being airlifted to hospital and needing major surgery after she lost her footing and fell about 40m from a cliff into a river.

Leah said it was a "miracle" she survived and described the accident as "never ending... I thought I was going to die".

The 32-year-old now faces a long road to recovery and has to learn to walk after suffering multiple broken bones and a punctured lung.

The couple, from Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, brought Leah's mum's cockapoo Bear and her brother's cocker spaniel Lola to Henrhyd Falls.

They'd been admiring the scenery and snapping selfies, and were making their way along a footpath by the Graig Llech gorge when Lola veered off the path.

The dog had gone down a bank and was slipping and struggling to get back up, so Leah picked up a stick and was leaning forward to try and hook it under her harness to pull her up.

As she was crouching, she lost her balance and fell.

In the time it took Anthony to turn and tie Bear to a tree so he could help, Leah had gone over the edge of the cliff.

"I was just trying to stop myself," said Leah.

"My right hand was completely black with bruises where I was trying to grab everything. I tried to slam my foot into a big rock to stop myself.

"It's a good job I went down the way I did, on my back. Because if I'd gone head first, I don't think I'd be here today."

Leah Matthews and her partner Anthony were enjoying a Saturday dog walk in the Brecon Beacons, with no idea about the life-changing incident about to happen

Leah remembers "slamming" against water and struggling to breathe as she landed in the Nant Llech river, which runs through the gorge.

She could hear Anthony shouting her name and "was trying to get my breath to try and shout back".

Anthony scrambled his way down to reach Leah, pulled her from the water and put her in the recovery position, before having to leave her to find enough mobile signal to call the emergency services.

"He jumped in a bush, then jumped on a rock, then somehow came down a tree. I call him Tarzan now," she said.

"Then he was trying to keep me awake and talk to me. On the phone they were telling him to say the wrong birthday to try and keep me aware."

It took five hours for rescue teams to get Leah to an area where she could be safely airlifted to hospital

First on the scene were the police, who communicated with Anthony from up on the cliffside, while the fire service were the first to reach Leah, followed by mountain rescue team and paramedics.

Transporting Leah safely to a point where she could be airlifted to hospital was tricky and took five hours, by which time she was suffering from hypothermia, but she said she couldn't thank all her rescuers enough.

At University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, scans revealed Leah had injuries including eight broken ribs, a shattered hip, three breaks in her pelvis, a fractured right foot and a punctured lung.

Leah and Anthony were walking family dogs Lola and Bear on the day of the fall

She was "in a lot of pain" and needed two surgeries and five blood transfusions, before being transferred to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf, where the focus was preparing her to cope at home.

"I was able to get hoisted into a chair, sit up a bit better... and, as the days went on, I was able to get out of bed with help from the nurses and family."

She's now in a hospital bed at home and needs a wheelchair.

Leah is set up with a hospital bed and other equipment at home so she can continue her recovery with family around her

Leah was told it would be at least eight weeks before she could stand after surgery and will be able to start physiotherapy to learn to walk again once she can support her own weight.

But there's no firm timeline and she's "already missing out on so much", particularly with her nine-year-old son Ellis and 15-year-old daughter Summer.

Leah, a mental health support worker, was due to start a new job in the week following the fall, which is now on hold.

Her mum has also taken special leave from work to be her full-time carer, meaning it is going to be "a tight couple of months financially".

Members of the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue Team went to visit Leah in hospital following the rescue

"I've always been a very outgoing person, I don't sit down. I've always been the one who cooks the meals and does everyone's washing," she said.

"It's just so hard to be stuck in a bed and not be able to do anything... it is torture.

"But I'm so thankful. It could have been a lot worse and my children could be without a mother now."

Leah also received counselling in hospital to help her deal with trauma-related nightmares and hopes to continue seeking similar support.

"I'd wake up in a panic, feeling like I was falling again," she said.

Leah says she will forever be grateful that she survived the fall and has been able to go home to her children, Ellis and Summer

Leah admitted that, in hindsight, it was a "mistake" to let the dogs off their leads, but stressed conditions were good, she was wearing walking boots, and she deliberately didn't leave the path.

She "wasn't aware there was a cliff there" as it was hidden by trees and bushes, and "didn't see any signs", so urged others to "be careful" when out enjoying nature.

National Trust Cymru, which cares for the section of the Graig Lech gorge where Leah fell, said it had been informed of the incident.

It said it considered the guidance of the Visitor Safety Group, including "seeking to preserve peoples' right to choose the activities they wish to engage with and to strike a proportionate balance with the risk management methods we employ".

"Having applied the principles to this incident we have no plans to put any further safety measures in place at this location," it added.