‘Paramedics thought I was having a panic attack, but I was actually paralysed by a stroke’

While Rebecca Waller was working from home one Friday afternoon, she started feeling a lot of pressure in her upper back and pins and needles in her arms.

The 26-year-old man finished his call and lay in bed in pain, hoping the pain would go away. But as the pain worsened, he began to lose the ability to move from his neck down.

The recruitment consultant, who lived in Paddington, west London, was suffering from a spinal stroke so rare it accounts for just 1.25 per cent of all strokes and it seemed to happen out of the blue.

Overnight, she went from planning wedding invitations with her fiancée to learning that she would never be able to walk or live independently without extensive support.

“If you had scanned me that morning you wouldn’t have guessed what was going to happen,” he said. Independent About the ordeal on January 9th.

“It started very slowly and as the interview went on I felt worse and worse. I managed to get through the interview and at that point I was in bed writhing in pain and hyperventilating. It was similar to how people describe a heart attack.”

Still in pain, she called her fiancé, James Naylor, who immediately called 999. But when paramedics arrived at the scene 10 minutes later, they initially assumed he had suffered a panic attack rather than a life-changing stroke.

“I could tell something was wrong. I thought it was weird that he had a panic attack, but we never thought it was a stroke,” he said.

As paramedics tried to calm him down, he slowly began to lose the ability to move, and he recalled being unable to hold a glass of water.

“I eventually had to go to the bathroom to vomit, and when I tried to get up from the floor I couldn’t move my limbs,” she said.

Although he could only move his neck, medics still believed he was having a panic attack.

“I don’t blame them because who would have thought that a 26-year-old had a rare stroke,” Ms Waller said. “I was convinced that everything would pass, that I could sleep, wake up, and move again.”

Eventually paramedics took Ms Waller to Charing Cross Hospital; There, an MRI scan was performed on his spine, heart, and brain, and doctors were able to determine that he had suffered a stroke.

“They’re not sure exactly why this happened, but they believe a piece of my disc came out of my spine and got into my vein, blocking blood flow to my spine,” Ms Waller said.

According to the Brain and Spine Foundation, spinal cord stroke is a disruption of blood flow to the spinal cord; This can damage tissue and block messages transmitted along the spinal cord.

Around 100,000 people have a stroke every year in the UK, but unlike most strokes that affect the brain, spinal strokes are very rare and usually occur suddenly within a few hours or even minutes.

The Brain and Spine Foundation said: “Diagnosis is made by taking a medical history, performing a physical examination and performing a spine scan. It is important to rule out any condition that could cause pressure on the spinal cord, such as a slipped disc or tumour. Because spinal paralysis is so rare, this may not be the first diagnostic consideration until the scan shows impaired blood flow to the spine.”

After three months in hospital and several weeks in a spinal rehabilitation centre, Ms Waller slowly began to regain some movement in her arms, fingers and abdominal muscles, but her limbs were not fully functioning.

But he was left with a lot of uncertainty. The day before the stroke, she recalled feeling “euphoric” because she and Mr. Naylor had arranged a wedding venue.

But now she’s focused on learning how to move again, with the hope that she can walk down the aisle.

“Everything has been put on hold and I’m just trying to get through it every day and not worry too much about how dramatically my life might have changed,” she said.

Miss Waller has six weeks left in NHS rehab before she will have to pay for private sessions, a carer and arrangements for her home. has family Create a GoFundMe page to help cover extra expenses.

London Ambulance Service chief medical officer Dr. Fenella Wrigley said: “We are sorry to learn of Ms Waller’s rare diagnosis.

“While our teams quickly arrive on scene, we will contact Ms. Waller to review the care we provided and ensure any necessary lessons have been learned.”