Luke Orton was playing in a rugby tournament on the Isle of Wight in July 2023 when his life changed forever.
“I went in for a tackle and heard my neck snap,” he said.
“It sounded like eating a cracker or a dry Weetabix – it turned out to be the guy’s knee who I tackled – then I was paralysed on the beach.”
He is one of several patients receiving specialist rehabilitation treatment at Salisbury Hospital’s Spinal Treatment Centre.
As the unit marks its 40th anniversary, BBC South spent six months with the staff and patients. These are some of their stories.
‘One wrong move’
Roxy Wilson, from Sherborne, Dorset, was in the crowd for Elton John’s set at Glastonbury last year when she says people suddenly surged and she was knocked over.
She needed surgery to remove a disc in her spine that was crushing her spinal cord.
“It was a case of one wrong move and it would have severed my cord,” said Roxy.
“Unfortunately, when they went to remove the disc, all the flow of blood and oxygen and everything just stunned all my nerves and I ended up paralysed.”
Roxy needed surgery after a fall at Glastonbury
After four months on the unit, Roxy was able to stand with support, meaning she does not have to use a wheelchair full-time.
“I’m going to walk out of here now, no doubt, I’m going to walk out,” she explained.
And five months on from her accident, she did just that, breaking into a broad smile as staff and patients cheered and clapped.
“All of a sudden I feel like I’m 10ft tall, not 5ft 8in,” says Roxy. “I think there’s every emotion possible – I’m scared and I’m going to miss this lot.”
Roxy Wilson suffered a spinal injury when she was knocked over at Glastonbury
While teams at the unit work on rehabilitating people with spinal injuries, not everyone will walk again.
Consultant Chalil Vinod said: “Patients are under the impression that a lot of physiotherapy can enable them to walk – and I dispel that myth.
“In a traumatic spinal injury, when the spine is fixed – that’s the bony bit fixed – but they forget there’s a nervous bit and once that’s damaged, it’s beyond repair.”
To help people cope with the often life-changing outcomes of their spinal injuries, patients are given support with mental resilience alo
Read More