We’d been going to the GP and the hospital just short of six months with a pain going around Elaina’s chest. They treated her for everything – pneumonia, pleurisy, gave her antibiotics, but nothing worked. She wasn’t poorly, she just had this pain. It went on and on and it wasn’t until she started getting pins and needles in her legs and couldn’t walk one day that it all came to light. I rang an ambulance when she couldn’t walk to the bathroom, but they cancelled it.  A medic rang back in the meantime and we were told to just go to the GP.

At first we were told she had cancer and it took them 19 days to confirm that it wasn’t, but they still didn’t know what was going on. They then found some lesions on her spine. It was only when they operated that they found an abscess that had wrapped around her spinal cord causing damage – it was crushing her spine and the cord. She also had sepsis; we were told that we might lose her. It was devastating.

We’ve been married for 44 years, have two adult children and our first grandson was born in February 2023. He had been poorly himself, spent some time in ICU. Elaina only had a week with him before her rehab. It has been a nightmare, but he kept us going through this. 

We didn’t know about Aspire until we got to Pinderfields Spinal Injury Centre, probably six weeks after she was discharged from Leeds General Infirmary. The support and advice have been great. We felt very much on our own until we had the support from Aspire. 

The help was brilliant, we couldn’t have done it without Michelle. It took away the stress from us. It was a relief to know the advice was right and someone else was dealing with it. We’re so grateful to Aspire. 

We’re paying for private rehab, which really isn’t cheap. The benefits helps us pay for these sessions.

Welfare Benefits Advice

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