A mum faces life in a wheelchair after a routine operation went wrong at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore.
For a decade, Ruth Bateup, 58, lived with excruciating pain from incomplete cauda equina syndrome – a rare condition affecting the nerves at the base of the spine – after she developed symptoms from a car crash 13 years ago.
Hope finally came for the assistant librarian when her GP referred her to the RNOH, as surgery last December was intended to relieve her symptoms. However, it instead resulted in a life-changing spinal injury.
The woman from East Peckham, Kent, was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, a condition that affects the brain. Ruth said doctors told her it meant her brain had “forgotten I have legs”, as she prepares for life unable to walk.
She said: “I will never give up fighting. I am not sure that I will ever be able to walk again, but I simply have to try.”
Ruth is appealing for help to fund vital specialist equipment that will allow her to live safely. Visit: tinyurl.com/ruthbateupdonate
Feature image: Ruth Bateup
0 Comments