My story
Pain with purpose
I was born with shorter vertebrae in my spine. I can't remember a time without back pain. What I learned the hard way is that my body heals through movement.
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Age 12
The crash
Someone ran into me while I was snowboarding. I landed hard on my tailbone on the ice, and chronic pain began. Doctors told me not to ride a bike and to “take it easy”. Looking back, that made it worse.
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Teens
Floorball gold, survival mode
Nine years of floorball. At a sports high school our team won gold at the School World Championship in Slovakia. Meanwhile I often left school in an ambulance. I found yoga at 14 and still do it today.
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Age 20
When the brain says stop
After eight years of constant pain I burned out completely. No light, no sound, no phone. I took almost no photos in those years because I didn't want to look weak. Now I know it was when I was strongest.
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22 – 25
“Too young for this”
Scans showed spinal stenosis, which mostly affects men over 70. I spent nine months unable to stand. Then came emergency surgery, and I woke up unable to feel my legs. Rehab started with trying to press my legs into the bed. The nerve pain has stayed with me.
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February 2017
The first ride
I tried mountain biking and felt my muscles working again. I stood up on the pedals and flew through the forest. Endorphins became my medicine. I gained more strength in two months on the bike than in two years of rehab.
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2018 – 2020
Standing up again
A spinal cord stimulator let me stand, walk and cook again. I trained as a spinning instructor and cycling coach, started racing MTB and went through Apollo Sports Education. I began doing headstands on mountain tops to thank my legs for carrying me.
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2021 – 2023
Three years without a stimulator
A battery change led to an infection, and the whole system had to come out. While I waited three years for a new one, I walked six days a week, rode on the seventh and swam in the ocean every morning. In 2022 I rode with the Škoda Cycling Team, 15 pros and 15 recruits, and we set the all-women record at Vätternrundan.
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2024 – 2025
Para athlete
I got my new stimulator, and in November 2024 my para-cycling classification: C4. In June 2025 I became Swedish champion in the road race and time trial, and Nordic champion in the road race. In the autumn I was the fastest woman on stage 1 of the Mallorca Para-cycling Tour.
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2026
Crash, rebuild, +25%
Over the winter I took second place at both Gran Canaria Bike Week and La Titánica. In April I got so cold in a rainy mountain race that I lost the use of my hands and was taken down by ambulance. In May I crashed, and severe migraines kept me off work for nine weeks. I rebuilt with Zone 2 rides, sometimes in earplugs. My VO₂max went from 57.8 in April to 72.3 in August.
My way forward
My life has never been about escaping pain. It has been about transforming it. Helping others gives meaning to everything I've been through. Para-cycling shows people what is possible when you refuse to give up.
Everyone can do something. I want to help them find their something.
