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 looked like eating a cracker or a dry Wetabox – it turned out to be the knee of the guy I tackled – then I was paralyzed on the beach.”
He is one of a number of patients receiving specialist rehabilitation treatment at Salisbury Hospital’s Spine Treatment Centre.
As the unit celebrates its 40th anniversary, BBC South spent six months with staff and patients. These are some of their stories.
‘a wrong move’
Roxy Wilson, from Sherborne, Dorset, was in the crowd for Elton John’s set at Glastonbury last year when she said the crowd suddenly surged and she collapsed.
He needed surgery to remove a disc in his spine that was compressing his spine.
“It was a case of one wrong move and it would have broken my bone,” Roxy said.
“Unfortunately, when they went to remove the disc, all the flow of blood and oxygen and everything numbed all my nerves and I was paralyzed.”
After four months in the unit, Roxy was able to stand with support, meaning she no longer needs to use a wheelchair full-time.
“I’m going to get out of here now, no doubt, I’m going out,” she explained.
And five months after his accident, he did just that, with a wide smile as staff and patients cheered and applauded.
“Suddenly I feel like I’m 10 feet tall, not 5 feet 8 inches,” Roxy says. “I think every emotion is possible – I’m scared and I’m going to miss it so much.”
While teams in the unit work to rehabilitate people with spinal cord injuries, not everyone will walk again.
Consultant Chalil Vinod said: “Patients are under the impression that a lot of physiotherapy will enable them to walk – and I dispel that myth.
“In a traumatic spinal cord injury, when the spine heals — it’s bony but fixed — but they forget that there’s a nerve and once it’s damaged, it’s beyond repair. “
To help people cope with the often life-changing consequences of their spinal cord injuries, patients are supported with their physical rehabilitation as well as mental resilience.
Dr Nigel North, clinical psychologist, said: “You can’t take away hope. We can’t leave someone hopeless by saying it’s never going to change because that would be an absolutely horrible place to leave someone.”
For many, the healing journey includes grieving the loss of their life before their spinal cord injury.
“You’re mourning something that’s gone and you can’t get it back the way it used to be,” Dr. North said.
‘Everything was fuzzy’
Patient Fergus Powell said: “I think I’m moaning a lot but it’s because I’m sick of this life, I want my old life back.”
A tree surgeon was removing rotten branches from a tree in Yelverton, Dartmoor in August 2023 when he fell 46ft (14m).
“I was hanging there for a second then I heard a click or a clank and then I woke up on the floor,” he said.
“I didn’t feel any immediate pain, I couldn’t see, everything was blurry.
“I think I fell about 14 meters (45.9 feet), which is bigger than a two-story house.”
For Fearghas, the core of his recovery is upper body movement and strength.
He has some feeling below the waist but very limited use of his legs, no feeling or movement below the knee.
A year after the accident, the tree surgeon from Plymouth, Devon found the courage to return to the accident site.
Looking at the tree he fell from he said: “I almost cried this morning because it felt so much but, now I’m here, I feel quite sick.
“It’s just weird. My whole life is changed now—by that tree.”
‘go ahead’
Following his rugby accident, Luke, from Ventnor, Isle of Wight, requires regular physiotherapy.
Initially told he could only use his biceps, he is also building strength in his triceps and wrists.
While he will never regain the use of his legs, Luke is determined to move on with his life.
“If I sit there in bed and go, ‘Oh, I’ve lost my legs for the rest of my life’, I’m not going to get anywhere,” he said.
“You’ve got to move on, carry on with the life you may have had before but it’s going to be completely different. At the end of the day, I’m still the same person. I am.”
The impact of a spinal cord injury goes beyond physical and mental rehabilitation.
Annamarie broke three vertebrae in her spine when she fell down a flight of stairs, leaving her without feeling from the chest down.
During her time in the spinal unit, her teenage daughter had to move in with her grandmother and Annamarie’s father died.
“It’s so much, you can’t even be there for your family, you’re so removed from what’s going on, it’s so hard,” she said.
Eighteen months after her accident, Annamarie has made amazing progress.
He is now able to walk with help and move to an extra care unit in Romsey, Hampshire, near his family.
But she is struggling to find a suitable place to live with her daughter again.
‘I was completely paralyzed’
Caroline Burson, from Alresford, Hampshire, was on holiday in Cyprus last summer when her arm “completely died”.
She waited with her partner for a taxi to take her to hospital but “by the time it arrived, I was completely paralyzed from the neck down”.
Caroline says doctors initially thought she had sunstroke, but an MRI scan showed it was more serious and she was flown back to the UK by air ambulance.
Caroline had suffered a spinal cord injury. A clot had interrupted blood flow to his spinal cord.
During Caroline’s time in the unit, she is progressing from supported walking to independent movement.
“I was told there was no recovery,” he said, calling the feeling of being able to stand up unaided “just unbelievable.”
“I said when I got here, I’m leaving here — and I am,” she said.
And eight months after her spinal stroke, she walks out of the unit with the help of a cane and with immense pride.