Initially, she screamed through the agonising pain.

Nerve damage meant months filled with sleepless nights and then there were tears - not just for what had happened - but to grieve her former life.

Emily said her independence was taken away after the December 15 accident.

She may look “normal”, but the 24-year-old is still recovering from a spinal injury.

At one moment, she was watching a picturesque Peruvian sunset on a hostel roof, the next, she had fallen through a skylight.

It has been a mental and physical challenge ever since to gain her life back.

“When I was in Peru, I was trying to scream out how much pain I was in, but none of my screams seemed to match the pain my body was experiencing,” she said.

“It was agonising.

“I just closed my eyes and tried to meditate until it went away.

“The power of the mind is amazing, your body won't stop unless you tell it to.

“I could have thought ‘I'm done, I'm not going to make it through this’, but you have to overcome those little voices.”

Emily lay on a trolley for three days with no painkillers, while broken bones and dislocations riddled her feet, ankles, toes and pelvis. Her right elbow was shattered along with the L3 vertebra in her spine.

Medical staff refused to help without being paid - in cash.

Several road-blocks meant it took nearly a week for her to move to San Diego's Sharp Memorial Hospital, America. Four weeks later, she boarded a plane to Melbourne.

Emily moved back to her family's East Albury home on March 23, instead of her usual place with friends in Brisbane. 

At the time, she was still in a wheelchair and her parents, Ron and Janet, took time off work to care for her. She said the recovery was the hardest job she had ever had.

“All of a sudden I've had my wings clipped and was having to start everything all over again – that was really hard,” she said.

“There's so much people don't understand about a spinal injury.

“It's not just learning to walk again.

“Even though I can stand up now, if I drop something I can't pick it up and man that's frustrating.

“I've had to learn how to walk, drive, shower and use the toilet again and start building muscles which I'd spent 24 years building.

“I still can't put a jumper on, or even stand, with my eyes closed or I lose my balance … but honestly, thank God I'm up.”

Emily's body continues to heal.

In the beginning, stress and trauma caused some of her hair to fall out.

Still, there are “traumatic” nights when her parents or sisters, Hannah and Hollie, sit up with her as nerve pain sets in.

But, everyday, she discovers new parts of her body which gain feeling again. 

As she spoke, Emily touched her lower back – a sensation she wouldn’t have felt just a week earlier.

“There are still nights where I get really, really intense nerve pain, it sort of feels like someone is burning you with a hot iron,” she said.

“It comes in sets, it burns you then stops and then it starts again.

“Then I get frustrated because I can't sleep because I'm in pain, so mum and dad will stay up with me which is nice.”

Monthly goals are Emily’s way of motivating herself and monitoring her progress.

At first she wanted to walk by her birthday on April 1. She succeeded by taking a few steps using a walking frame.

From there, she progressed to crutches so she could watch her friends’ band play at the Big Pineapple Festival in Queensland.

“I had to master how to do stairs so I could get on the plane and practise walking with crutches,” she said.

“I knew how much it meant to them to make it to the festival, so I couldn't miss it.”

Next she wanted to ride a bike, but she still struggles with balance.

Everyone in the room laughed as she explained her new trike named Lemon.

“I literally ride up and down the street on this bright yellow trike for hours, the neighbours would think I'm crazy,” she said.

“One of our neighbours got me a flag so people could see me.

“I was like ‘far out’, I already look like a loser as it is ... you have to laugh at it all, or it's just too much.”

Emily's next little mission is to drive again – she has already begun lessons. 

Her car will be modified so she can accelerate using her left foot.

“My right leg is pretty much, not dead, but doesn't do what I want it to do,” she said.

It will be two years before Emily will fully understand the extent of her recovery.

Always in search of a silver lining, she now uses her spare time to learn Spanish and play guitar as an escape.

She attends four appointments each week ranging from acupuncture, massage, kinesiology, naturopathy and doctors.

Gym is on the agenda twice a day and meditation at least once a day.

Emily has battled her mind and tried “everything” for the recovery she desired.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you don't deserve what you really want,” she said.

“Some of the doctors said ‘you wont walk’ and I was like ‘no, I don’t need that, don’t tell me that’. 

“Don't ever stop - just keep trying.

“If someone told me they couldn’t fix something, I'd go to someone else. 

“I just remember lying there and being like ‘I am not accepting lying down as my life’.”

Above all, she said her friends and family’s lives had changed too. They were the ones who ultimately pushed her through.

“Humans are great,” she said.

“There are a lot of people I haven’t been able to thank who have done so much.

“There were a lot of fundraisers done - once we got back to Australia people thought we still got travel insurance and medical benefits, but that all stopped.

“I hope they know how much the fundraisers they did helped us.

“And the random acts of human compassion and kindness … neighbours have even dropped off exercise equipment.”

Emily's mother, Janet, agreed.

“We've been really lucky being in a small community, the network of friends, clients and even strangers who would call and say they had a physio or yoga instructor – they really did get behind us,” Mrs Wornes said.

“We are so proud of Emily.

“She doesn't stop, she is like a professional athlete, all day she is out exercising.

“The reason she has gotten to where she is is because she is just so dedicated.”

Emily will still need several operations and ongoing exercise and rehab.

She hoped to move back to her friends in Queensland this year and, one day, to be a motivational speaker, a yoga instructor and study in the health field so she could help people.

“How amazing is the human body,” she said.

“My mind went into survival mode - your body won’t stop unless your mind tells it to.

“I'm incredibly lucky to have escaped the drop with nothing but a scar on my back where they operated.

“They say it's a slow recovery with a spinal injury, but I plan to make that statement fiction.”