For years Emma Anderson was told the agony she had suffered in her back was just sciatica.
But the truth about what she was experiencing turned out to be terrifying.
The 45-year-old recalled the moment she finally found out about the spinal condition she'd been oblivious to for so long, and how serious it actually was.
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It came about after she went to see a specialist who informed her she had the worst slipped disc he had ever seen.
"He took one look at the results of my MRI scan and went, "Whoa!" said Emma, who works in recruitment.
"The disc was pinching and rubbing against three important nerves which, had they been damaged further or even severed, I'd likely have lost the use of my left leg and my bowel.
"I also found out that coughing or sneezing too hard could have ended up pushing it over the edge."
It was after caring for her mother Mair, who was dying of cancer, that Emma found out the truth about what was causing the problem.
"I'd been having pain in my left leg for ages - it went from the middle of my lower back to my left hip and all the way down to my ankle."
"It was terrible but I just kept fighting through it and, after a while, you kind of start living with it. But when I became a full-time carer for my mum it got worse. I'd try lifting her out of her chair and would have to bend down, wrap my arms around her and shuffle her into her wheelchair.
"It was putting a lot of strain on my back."
Also a vegan chef, Emma added that things got worse in early 2019 when she was pitching her stall at a mini-food festival in her home city of Swansea.
"That's when I realised there was something more to it than just sciatica," she said. "I couldn't lift or carry anything and had to leave it all to my husband. Even bending down was painful - it got to the point where I couldn't stand up straight, sit properly or lie down in comfort."
A yoga enthusiast, Emma still relied on gentle exercise to help with her mobility, however.
"After one workout I had a shower and was reaching for the shampoo when I felt something go 'pop' - I knew immediately something was very wrong."
After seeing a specialist, Emma was sent to have major spinal surgery to scrape away her slipped disc, and afterwards began physiotherapy to help her get back on her feet.
"I had lost all my strength. I couldn't even get into the plank position and I’d be crying walking up small hills," she said. "And where I live there's lots of hills - big ones too. Luckily, the nerve damage had been caught in time and I was able to recover fully."
Emma added that she also started using a holistic online pain management service called Our Health Hub which provided her with a series of gentle exercise programs to help her feel better faster.
"Initially I was sceptical that it would work but it turned out to be really effective," she said.
"So much so that I'm able to sit here today almost completely pain free.
"And I can barely remember the last time I felt like that."
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