A grandmother suffered a horrific fractured spine after she leaped from a 35 ft high cliff into a Jamaican lagoon. Maggie Ricketts, 63, said that when she hit the water it was like smashing into a ‘brick wall’.
She was left in agony on the £2 dream holiday and the accident happened only three days into it. Instead of forming a perfect dive she hit the water in a sitting position - and had to be carried out by partner Peter Wood, 67.
Maggie said:”She said: “I was in so much pain I couldn’t walk. It felt like I had hit a brick wall. mI stayed in the hotel room for a lot. The holiday was ruined. It was horrendous. I have never felt anything like it. I couldn’t get my breath - I thought I was going to drown.
“I was absolutely gutted. I kept wondering what I did but I couldn’t do anything until I got home.”
Maggie, an exam invigilator, from Dukinfield, Manchester, realised she wasn’t covered on her travel insurance - and spent the next 11 days in her bed, somehow getting onto the plane and getting medical treatment when she got back to the UK.
NHS tests showed that her spine had been fractured - which has left her in constant pain ever since.
She explained: “I had an x-ray when I got home and they told me I had fractured my spine. They couldn’t believe I had been walking around for two weeks.”
Maggie was on holiday with Peter, her daughter Charlotte Edwards, 35, and her grandchildren in May 2020. The rest of the family completed the lagoon jump without incident - so gran-of-three Maggie decided to give it a go.
She said: “I am frightened of heights but I thought, ‘I am going to do this’. I climbed up onto these rocks and stood on the platform.
“When I jumped, instead of putting my legs straight when I landed, I had my legs out.” Realising something was wrong, her partner and holiday rep swam out to bring her to shore.
But, as the family weren’t insured for sports injuries, Maggie wasn’t able to go to hospital to receive treatment.
“I am still on painkillers to this day as I now suffer from back problems. I feel so stupid that I put my legs up, I don’t know why I did it.
“This is going to affect me for the rest of my life. It is really painful.”
