A young woman in the UK has been left paralyzed after initially dismissing severe symptoms as back pain.
Lucy Dunford was 19 when she started experiencing “stabbing pains” in December 2024. According to the Yorkshire Post, she wasn’t admitted to hospital until weeks later, once the pain became “unbearable.”
As her condition worsened, Lucy became too weak to walk and developed pins and needles in both her hands and feet.
Lucy spent three weeks in hospital while doctors tried to determine what was happening. During that period, clinicians raised the possibility that she may have suffered a spinal stroke, but she wasn’t given a confirmed diagnosis until April — around four months later.
She underwent multiple assessments, including a full-body MRI, and was told that several results suggested she was “perfectly healthy.”
As per MayoClinic, “A spinal cord stroke occurs when the blood supply to the spinal cord stops. When the blood supply is cut off, the spinal cord can’t get oxygen and nutrients.”
When that blood flow is interrupted, the spinal cord tissue may no longer be able to pass nerve signals through the body — signals that are essential for movement and many key functions.
Spinal strokes are also rare, making up less than two percent of all strokes, and are far less common than strokes affecting the brain.
A year after her formal diagnosis, Lucy — now 21 — uses a wheelchair and is paralyzed from the neck down, with movement limited to her arms.
“Words can’t describe how life has changed after a spinal cord injury. Everything is difficult, there is no such thing as a simple task anymore,” she told the Yorkshire Post.
She also described ongoing spasms, explaining that her legs and core move without warning — something she can’t control — and that the involuntary movements have, at times, thrown her from her chair.
“The best way I can describe the pain is like if all the blood in my veins was replaced with larva – my whole body from neck down was on fire,” she said.
In response, Lucy’s sister Abbie has set up a GoFundMe titled ‘Help Lucy Reclaim Her Life’. She said the family has identified specialist treatment outside England and is raising money to cover the costs.
“We are already working toward a specialized treatment that costs £20,000 (not including flights). This GoFundMe is specifically to raise the £10,000 ($13,500) needed for the intensive follow-up physiotherapy required after that treatment,” she wrote – with a goal of £3.5k ($4,726.66).
If you would like to donate to Lucy’s fundraiser, you can do so here.