Our AMAZING recoveries

Former nurse Fiona Beard, 66, was paralysed by pain for 14 years by back surgery that went wrong.

I first suffered back pain after a car accident in 1999. Initially, the pain went away, but two years later, I was hit by an episode so severe I ended up in hospital in agony.

A scan showed pieces of ruptured tissue scattered around my spine, and I was told that I needed emergency surgery. It was terrifying but I put my faith in the consultant. When I came round from the anaesthetic, I was in indescribable pain and couldn’t stop screaming. The surgery had damaged nerves in my legs, and I could neither walk nor sit up – I felt totally helpless.

Nine months later, I still hadn’t moved from my hospital bed. Aside from some physio, I’d had no review or further treatment, so, despite not being well enough to go home, I discharged myself. My husband Martin, who had been made redundant while I was in hospital, became my full-time carer.

My pain took away all my energy. I was on massive doses of medication, which left me in such a stupor that I couldn’t even hold a simple conversation. People stopped visiting and I felt incredibly sad. I’d always been such a social person and I no longer recognised myself.

My teenage children were wonderful and I knew I had to stay strong for them. Each morning I’d look in the mirror and say, ‘This is only temporary’. Somehow, I never lost hope.

Martin, however, was struggling. He too had lost his life as he knew it, and his confidence crashed. My illness began to expose deep-seated problems in our marriage, and, eight years after my operation, we separated. It was sad, but the situation was causing us so much stress that we couldn’t carry on.