Wakefield woman left paralysed after her 'back ache' was sign of rare spinal stroke

Lucy Dunford was 19 when she first started suffering from ‘stabbing pains’ between her shoulder blades in December 2024 - which she had brushed off as normal bodily aches.

But when the pain didn't leave after taking some paracetamol, she rang 111 who told her to go to the hospital as soon as possible.

She said: "My hands and feet went numb and when I tried to stand up I couldn't support my own weight.

By the time she arrived at at Pinderfields A&E she had lost all function in her left leg.

She was taken for blood test, ECGs, and CT scans of her brain and lungs.

But the next morning Lucy said she woke up paralysed from her chest down which she described as ‘terrifying’.

After further tests, it was suggested Lucy had suffered a spinal stroke.

“That was around the three weeks mark of been in hospital, however I wasn't fully diagnosed until four months of being in the hospital on April 1."

Now aged 21, Lucy is currently wheelchair bound after suffering the stroke which usually affects people between 50 and 70 years old, according to The Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital.

Lucy, from Wakefield, is paralysed from the neck down, and is only able to move her arms and she also suffers terrible nerve pain and severe muscle spasms which are sometimes so bad she can't control her legs.

She is now crowdfunding to raise money for specialist physiotherapy treatment to help build her muscles and stop her ‘uncontrollable spasms’.

Lucy said: "Words can’t describe how life has changed after a spinal cord injury.

"Everything is difficult, there is no such thing as a simple task anymore.

"As soon as I wake up there are obstacles such as spasms making it very difficult, so it takes me a long time just to sit on the end of the bed before having to use all my strength to get into my chair.

"My spasms in my body so hard to live with, not only can I not control my legs and core but they move involuntarily which make been in my chair unsafe as they throw me around.

"As well, nerve pain is really severe some days where I have to cancel plans and stay in bed to endure the pain.

"The best way I can describe the pain is like if all the blood in my veins was replaced with larva - my whole body from neck down was on fire.

"Everything I used to love about my life has been snatched away from me, I can’t have a day off or to be able to have a chill day in bed because I’m at risk of pressure sores.

"Even fun activities such as going to lunch or to the movies I have to do double to amount of planning and the feeling of being an inconvenience to friends or strangers is such a struggle."

Prior to the incident on December 16, 2024, Lucy said she was fit and had her whole future ahead of her, she had just started studying FDA leadership and management at the University of Hull.

She said: "Before my stroke I was in the gym five times per week and really prioritised eating clean and drinking water and getting as many steps in per day.

"I was also working two jobs at the time, as a barmaid and at a hotel and had just started at university."

Lucy is engaging in physiotherapy to help regain some independence – and has also courageously continued at university.

Lucy has already paid for £19,122 - including accommodation and food - for stem cell treatment out of her own pocket last year.

But she is currently raising money to pay for an intensive 10-week physiotherapy course.

She says the rehabilitation will help ‘guide the new stem cells to damaged nerves’ and help them regrow and recover while teaching her body how to do things again, such as controlling muscles, spasms and nerve pain.

You can donate here