'How could it happen?'

A session with a chiropractor left this young woman partially paralysed and unable to walk or talk

- By Janice Beckett-Msiza

Her whole life lay ahead of her and it looked like it was going to be everything she’d hoped for.

Caitlin Jensen (29) was on track to get her dream job in environmental management, was in a relationship with a guy she loved and was planning to move into her own home.

Then a visit to a chiropractor to sort out a crick in her neck changed everything.

“She was really tense because her studies [in biology and chemistry] had been really hard,” her mom, Darlene, says. “She was clenching her jaw kind of tight. And we thought maybe going to the chiropractor will just help loosen everything up.”

Darlene convinced her reluctant daughter to go and minutes before her appointment they chatted on the phone about the jobs she was applying for and her weekend plans with her boyfriend.

Less than an hour later Caitlin had a stroke and a heart attack. Her vision is now impaired, she’s partially paralysed, unable to swallow or walk, and she only recently regained her ability to speak.

Darlene was shocked to receive a call from the chiropractic office in Richmond Hill in Georgia, US, where the Jensen family lives. She works at a car repair shop near to the office and ran over to see her daughter being put into an ambulance.

“Her speech wasn’t right. She was sweaty and nauseous, she was vomiting. It didn’t occur to me that she was having a stroke,” Darlene says. “I didn’t expect a perfectly healthy young woman to be having a stroke.”

The stroke was followed by a heart attack and paramedics worked for 12 minutes to restore her pulse.