A 39-year-old mother has shared her story about becoming paralyzed after experiencing ‘strange’ symptoms that doctors initially ‘assumed’ were due to ‘a pinched nerve’.
In May 2016, Tanya-lee Holmes from Bathurst, New South Wales in Australia, started to suffer from neck pain. After trying painkillers, acupuncture, and special pillows without relief, she underwent x-ray, CT, and MRI scans.
Doctors diagnosed her with ‘a pinched nerve’ and sent her home, but three days later, the 39-year-old mom woke up feeling ‘an electric shock up [her] spine’.
The mother told FEMAIL that when doctors assumed her six weeks of pain was due to a pinched nerve, she was sent home to ‘rest’ and use ‘heat packs’.
She recounted: “I stood up and it was like someone plugged me into a powerpoint. I got an electric shock up my spine and automatically started vomiting.”
Despite continuing to vomit, Tanya-lee managed to drop her youngest son at school. Upon returning home, she developed a ‘migraine’.
She attempted to sleep it off, but woke up hours later in ‘excruciating pain’ and couldn’t move or feel ‘half of [her] body’.
These ‘strange’ symptoms were caused by a far more serious condition, leading to two cervical spine nerves shattering unexpectedly.
Unable to get out of bed properly, Tanya-lee had to ‘drag’ herself down the hallway and called an ambulance.
Tests showed that she had shattered her C4 and C5 nerves in her spine. Surprisingly, there was ‘absolutely no reason’ for it— ‘it just kind of happened’.
Although she was ‘walking unassisted within two weeks of surgery,’ she continued to experience ‘weakness and numbness’ on the left side of her body.
Tanya-lee further explained: “Three months after that, I suddenly regressed and the paralysis to my left side got worse and I eventually couldn’t stand by myself and couldn’t walk unassisted at all. Doctors still have no idea why this happened.”
She now relies on a wheelchair or walking stick to move around and describes her skin as feeling ‘on fire’.
Reflecting on her situation, Tanya-lee mentioned that ‘acquiring a disability is so much harder than being born with one’ because ‘the first thing you’re looking at is all the things you planned for the future that will never happen’.
Despite facing challenges in finding work since the incident, Tanya-lee has established her own baking business, Imperfectly Perfect Sugar Cookies, and helps other businesses with ‘disability advocacy and inclusion’.
Tanya-lee expressed that she is ‘proud to have a disability’ and of the person it has helped her to ‘become’.
If any of these issues have affected you and you need someone to talk to in confidence, you can contact Scope via their website or at 0808 800 3333. The line is open from 9am to 6pm Monday to Fridays, and from 10am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.