A virus stole my life

Hayley Bray was looking forward to a visit from her sister, but she woke up in a hospital bed

- FRANCES LEATE, TRACY GAYTON

As my younger sister Sadie, then 24, rested her head on my shoulder, she sighed deeply. It was a Friday night and we were hanging out together watching our favorite TV show, Love Island – a guilty pleasure of ours. Only two years apart in age, Sadie and I were best friends as well as sisters. Spending time together like this wasn’t unusual, except we’d usually be lounging on a sofa at home, sharing a bottle of wine, and planning our next trip abroad. Instead, Sadie was curled up next to me on my hospital bed in Majorca, Spain, and our conversation was one-way – she talked and I listened. Because that was all I could do. And even though I knew Sadie’s head was on my shoulder, I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t feel anything from my neck down, and I had no idea if I ever would again.

I’d moved to Spain six weeks earlier, in April 2019, after securing a job at a hotel in Ibiza as a nursery nurse, and Sadie had already booked flights to visit me. ‘I can’t wait to see you,’ she’d said over the phone a few days before her planned arrival.

That afternoon, after finishing my shift at work, I was exhausted, but when I tried to sleep, I couldn’t. I kept feeling like I needed to go to the loo, but no matter how many times I got up I couldn’t seem to relieve myself.

Trapped and scared

I put it down to a bladder infection, telling myself I’d get antibiotics the next day, and eventually, I drifted off, but the next morning my tummy ached and I could barely muster the strength to sit up in bed. I went to see the doctor and, after explaining that I’d not been able to empty my bladder since the day before, he called an ambulance. I was taken to the hospital to have a catheter fitted and told I’d need to be kept in overnight.

‘I tried to speak but nothing came out’