A Brit who suffered a catastrophic crash which shattered her jaw while on holiday has been left with no feeling in her face.
Tia Lockey’s life completely changed at the very start of her dream trip through Asia when she was involved in a horrific motorbike accident.
The 22-year-old waved goodbye to her friends after volunteering to go first down to a remote beach.
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Tia can now only remember the first few minutes of the journey before waking up on the jungle floor, concussed and in agonising pain.
“My dream trip I had been planning for years had been stripped away from me because of a lift to the beach,” Tia from Durham told Need To Know.
“I opened my eyes and I was on the floor in the jungle of Koh Tao, in the middle of nowhere covered in blood.
“I didn’t and still don’t remember the crash at all; it’s completely wiped from my memory.
“I definitely mourn the life I used to have.”
The marketing worker had organised a trip down to the beach in Koh Tao, Thailand in the early hours of the morning of 14 Mar.
A fellow traveller offered to take them down one by one as the ride would only take 10 minutes – and thinking nothing of it, Tia went first.
However, shortly after they had set off, they were involved in a horrific crash which left the Brit seriously injured and in desperate need of rescuing.
Tia said: “My friend thought something must’ve been up and she had a bad feeling since the driver was meant to go back for her next but he still hadn’t come.
“Luckily I had shared my live location with her that night so she followed it and found me with all of my injuries.
“An ambulance came and the hospital told me I had shattered my jaw in two places, knocked two teeth out, and had very deep wounds on my face.
“I needed to be emergency speed-boated to a hospital in Koh Samui which was around three hours away.”
Tia was rushed to the hospital with her face completely bandaged up due to the gaping wounds on her upper lip, forehead, left eye, chin and scalp.
For the next two weeks she was bedridden in hospital with her mouth wired shut following her jaw surgery.
The 22-year-old then returned back home to the UK as another jaw surgery was required.
She said: “I needed to have another jaw surgery in May.
“I couldn’t chew for four months and because my jaw was so severely broken, they described it as cornflake bits, when I woke up from the eight hour surgery my teeth and bite were completely different.
“They no longer touched at the front, so I was left with an open bite and they said that this will just be my teeth from now on and there’s not a lot they can do to fix them.
“So now I struggle to eat anything with my front teeth.”
The crash completely changed Tia’s life, leaving her with crippling insecurities that stopped her from leaving the house.
On top of the scars and teeth damage, nerve damage to her bottom lip and chin left them completely numb.
Tia said: “I struggled a lot with going out and about with friends and family because I was so insecure about my teeth and scars.
“If I’m eating or brushing my teeth for example and I was to get toothpaste or food on my chin I would have no idea.
“My sisters have to give me a heads up when we’re out.
“I’m still being seen by the hospital for regular appointments and I still have missing teeth.
“I am hoping to finally have them fixed by the end of the year.
“My confidence and mood plummeted massively, there didn’t seem to be an end to my recovery.”
But now six months on from the crash Tia has finally started to adjust to the changes.
Documenting her recovery journey has given her a new found purpose after her story blew up online.
Tia said: “It has also made me realise just how precious life is and never to take a single day for granted.
“I thought posting about it on TikTok would give me a purpose during recovery and it turned it into something more positive.
“The response I’ve received is just so overwhelming in the best way and I massively appreciate all the support and love I’ve been getting from everyone.
“I just hope it reminds people to stay safe, even when you feel invincible, because you never think it will happen to you until it does, and unfortunately I’m still paying the price for it.”
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