Highly-decorated Welsh athlete Non Evans has opened up about her “agony” and “loss of identity” after a hit and run which she says has changed her life forever. The incident happened in September 2023 when Non was knocked off her bike near her home in Mumbles, Swansea.

She sustained a number of injuries including a complicated fracture to her right wrist and a shin injury. An elderly woman, aged 87, drove away from the scene and was later sentenced in magistrates' court for failing to stop after an accident and driving without due care and attention.

Previously speaking in February 2024, Non said the crash had left her unable to work as a personal trainer, prevented her undertaking basic daily tasks and left her with medical complications including sepsis. Get the latest news by signing up for our Rugby newsletter

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Catching up with WalesOnline in December, Non says she has experienced a profound loss of confidence and that life will never be the same for her again. The 50-year-old said she has experienced yet more complications in her recovery in what seems like a “never-ending” nightmare.

Describing the last 10 months, she said: “The hand wasn't healing so I was going back and forth to Neath Port Talbot hospital, thanks to my friend for driving me.

“An X-ray confirmed it wasn’t healing properly. They had put a pin in it and said they would operate to take the pin out and have a closer look at what was going on.

“I went back into theatre in the first week of September when the pin and my scaphoid bone, which was in bits, was removed. He used that as a bone graft to fuse my wrist and he put a plate in it with five screws. It means my wrist is fused in position for the rest of my life. I will never be able to do a press up again.”

Although Non is grateful for the operation, she said during the healing process she noticed an infection brewing. Having already experienced sepsis after an earlier operation, Non said she took no chances and went straight to hospital.

She said: “The red was rising slowly up my arm, but because I had had sepsis previously, I knew what to look out for. I went straight to the hospital and they put me on a drip for the second time to stop it from going further. It was another overnight trip at the hospital. They didn’t call it sepsis this time, they called it cellulitis. It is similar but they caught it early.”

Non - who has 87 international rugby caps playing for Wales and a long list of medals for judo, weightlifting and freestyle wrestling - said physically the last 15 months have been incredibly tough, putting an enormous strain on her mental wellbeing. She said things had been particularly difficult since her wrist was fused in September.

“I’m an international athlete in five different sports, it’s my life,” she said. “I’m used to training every day, training other people and being a fit person. Yes I can walk and I can do certain things, but now since it’s been fused I can’t even open a tin. If I go out for a meal I can’t cut things. [My friend] has to cut my meat for me unless I do it left handed, which is quite hard.

“My whole life since I was born has been training, running around, doing my sport, training others, going to the Commonwealth Games and playing rugby all over the world. Yes I am retired but it does not mean that feeling inside of me of wanting to train myself and others has gone away. Physically I can do sit ups and certain things, but I can’t hold a bar to do squats, for example.”

Non said the shift in her identity from being someone so active is something she is struggling to come to terms with. Becoming emotional, she said: “I am still trying to keep my fitness up but I can’t physically do what I did before because my wrist is fused and I haven’t got the strength.

“Taking that away has knocked my self-esteem and my confidence. People say I still look lovely in my clothes but I like having my muscles. My right forearm is now skinny. Being fit has always been a huge part of my identity. It’s not about vanity, it’s about my identity.

“I’m not dying but it has changed my personality from being the confident Non Evans sportsperson MBE. Yes, I had a dip after I finished my sports career, but I picked myself back up. Now this has happened and I’ve gone downhill again. I have lost so much confidence.”

In February Non described how she had taken a huge financial hit after her initial injury and pain forced her to give up her job as a personal trainer. She said she had no choice but to claim Universal Credit and accept financial support from her family.

Non said she is still affected by her loss of earnings and now only accepts very few clients who require gentle training. She explained: “I have been helping one guy who has a new knee with some exercise and a lady who had a stroke, but it’s not full time.

“When I train people I like doing it with them, but because I can't do it the way I used to do and want to, I don’t do it. I could do it half-heartedly but people come to me because of my reputation - there are millions of personal trainers out there but they like having Nonnie because I’m hands on. People probably wouldn’t mind, but I mind.”

When Non thinks about how drastically her life has changed because of the incident, she said she feels angry about the outcome of the court case, which happened at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on February 20. The court confirmed to WalesOnline that Joyce Forbe - then 87, of Gabalfa Road, Sketty, Swansea - pleaded guilty to two charges including failing to stop after a road accident and driving without due care and attention. She was disqualified from driving for six months, fined £120, ordered to pay costs of £85 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £48.

Reflecting on the outcome, she said: “If I wasn’t someone so fit and strong, I might have been smashed flat out on the ground. There are lots of elderly people who cycle around Mumbles and if it happened to any of them they could have been dead. If there was a car behind her, it could have gone over me, but luckily I managed to roll across. And if it wasn’t for the man who ran after her car and got her number plate she might have gotten away with it.

“I have been speaking to a solicitor because she had a fine and a driving ban which has been over for ages. I’ve discussed my loss of earnings, my injuries and the damage to my bike which was worth £1,000. But it’s not just about that, it’s my life. The discussions with my solicitor are ongoing. Next I will need to be assessed by an independent doctor who will judge the extent of the damage to my hand. The appointments are never-ending.”

Summing up the impact on her life, Non said: “If that incident didn't happen to me I wouldn't be like this and crying all the time. I didn’t leave the house for a while when it first happened because I was so embarrassed. I’m such a strong and powerful person and now I can’t even open a tin or take a top off a bottle. I’m even left-handed toothbrushing. I feel like an old woman who is still young.”