A Liverpool mum’s family trip to Paris turned into a life-threatening ordeal when she plunged two storeys from the townhouse where they were staying, leaving her with a serious brain injury.
Raina Heverin, 44, had travelled to the French capital with relatives for a long weekend in April 2025 and was looking forward to enjoying the city.
“We had spent the day walking around Paris – it was awesome, we had food and went everywhere,” she said.
During the stay, Raina decided to swap bedrooms with her sister because the room at the front of the property was disrupted by traffic noise. She instead slept in a quieter rear bedroom that featured a Juliet balcony.
At some point in the night, she fell from the balcony. Raina says she cannot remember anything from after the family returned to the townhouse, and her next memory is waking up from a coma three weeks later.
“We went went back to the apartment at about midnight – but I don’t remember anything after that,” she said.
The fall was around 40 feet and left her with devastating injuries, including a broken hip, broken ribs, a broken arm, a punctured lung and bleeding on the brain.
“If I had been found a few hours later, I definitely wouldn’t be here,” said Raina.
She believes the fall may have happened while she was sleepwalking. Research suggests that although sleepwalking affects between 2 and 4 percent of adults, falls are the leading cause of injury during sleepwalking episodes, with some cases resulting in serious head trauma and multiple fractures from falls from height.
The following morning at about 6am, her brother realised she was not in her room. At first, he thought she may have gone out for a run, but then noticed her shoes were still inside and the window was open.
When he looked down, he saw Raina in the courtyard below. A neighbour then helped the family call for an ambulance.
“My brother and sister-in-law were in disbelief,” she said. “It was really horrible for them.”
Before the accident, Raina balanced raising her children with running two businesses, while also maintaining an intense fitness routine that included daily exercise, weightlifting, fitness classes and regular 10k runs.
Doctors in France told her that her strong physical condition likely played an important role in helping her survive.
She is now adapting to the long-term impact of the fall and has spoken about how everyday tasks have become much more difficult.
“Putting make-up on takes a lot longer. I had to re-learn how to do everything.”
Raina spent two months in hospital in France before she was transferred back to the UK, where she remained in hospital until November. She has been diagnosed with ataxia, a neurological condition affecting coordination and balance that commonly results from traumatic brain injury. Research indicates that patients with ataxia secondary to traumatic brain injury can achieve the greatest improvement in the first six months after injury, though improvements can continue to be achieved for years afterward with intensive rehabilitation including physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
Although she has made progress, Raina says emotionally processing what happened is still a challenge.
She has been diagnosed with ataxia and continues to deal with balance issues, along with tremors affecting her hands, throat and body.
“I think I’m still grieving my old life,” she said. “I go through periods of being happy and sad at the same time.”
She added: “The world has kept turning while I’ve been in hospital.”
In spite of that, she has found ways to stay focused, including writing a children’s book to help her own children better understand what happened to her.
She has also remained as active as possible, completing 40 laps of her garden across four days — the equivalent of 5km — and raising £4,000 for The Brain Challenge.
“It feels like a massive achievement,” she said. “I’m excited for the future, because I know it can only get better.”