'Apprentice' Star Grainne McCoy Suffering Neurological Pain After Horrific Ski Accident

A former Apprentice contestant is opening up about a skiing injury that left her with her leg broken in three places.

Gráinne McCoy from the show's U.K. edition says she's developed a rare neurological condition after the accident on a French mountain in January.

McCoy, who appeared on the 12th season of The Apprentice UK, told Belfast Live that she heard an audible crack, but felt no pain at the time of the injury on the slopes at Morzine.

"I knew it was broken straight away because I heard the crack. I was just coming down the slope and when I got up again I could hardly stand. I don't know why I didn't feel the pain, it was probably the adrenaline," she said. "But when they took the boot off you could see straight away it was done."

The 33-year-old was put onto a stretcher and rushed to the hospital, where doctors told her that her left fibula was broken in three places. She says she's still in recovery, which has been much slower than doctors initially expected. Doctors told her they expected her to heal within six weeks, but four months removed from the accident, she's only now taking her first steps and she struggles with nerve pain.

"What an horrific 2018. I am now into five months and last week I just started taking my first steps again," she said.

"The bone is actually 70 percent healed. But now I've got this chronic regional pain syndrome which is a disorder with the nervous system. I have no sensation in my foot and it's still at a 90-degree angle," she told Belfast Live, adding that she won't let the word "chronic" define the rest of her life.

"I know the word chronic is long life, but I am not accepting that, because I could go into a complete state of depression like I was over the last couple of months," she said.

The single mom of one, who made it to the semifinals, or the final five, during The Apprentice, works as a makeup artist and said she's been left depressed and anxious after losing out on some business opportunities.

"[Apprentice boss] Alan Sugar would have told me, 'You're an idiot'," McCoy told Belfast Live. "He always said to me that I just jumped into things. I broke my leg on a skiing trip to Morzine in the first week in January - it was the first morning of my first time skiing.

She said after competing on The Apprentice in 2016 and then working hard to grow her business in 2017, she booked a vacation at the start of 2018, only to injure herself.

"My job was doing workshops across the U.K. and Ireland and I lost that because I couldn't drive," she said, adding that she felt depressed as a result. "I have never had depression in my life, It's shocking how your body can change and put you into a little world of your own. It has affected me badly."

She credits her mother with helping her recover, saying she helps her to feel different sensations like cotton so that her brain can "start recognizing them again."

"I would have been lost without her, she's done everything. I don't think she realises how much I appreciate everything she has done for me. She was my back bone, on my sad feeling sorry for myself days or if I fell she'd pick me up. She's amazing," McCoy said of her mother.

"I got myself in such a rut for the first two months. I have good and bad days where I think, 'this is so unfair'. I just can't put it into words - just one fall and your whole life can change. It's been an absolute disaster," she said. "But I have to say I am a lot more positive this week than I have been over the last four months.

"Maybe it's made me refocus myself. My studio is open and I have summer classes in it now and my gym and make-up workshop has sold out. So maybe it was all meant to happen. After this I am going to appreciate every single step I take."