A woman with a rare condition has returned to the North East after undergoing a lifesaving operation in Spain.
Melanie Hartshorn suffers from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), which causes her skull to dislocate from her neck and spine. As a result, the 33-year-old has spent the majority of her life lying down.
Back in October, she flew to Barcelona to undergo a risky operation to fuse her neck to her spine. The surgery, which is not available on the NHS, was carried out during by her neurosurgeon Dr. Vicenç Gilete García.
