A nurse who went to the bathroom feeling unwell has been left paralysed after she fell and hit her head. It is thought Marie Ogilvie smashed her head off the toilet in the accident.
The 54-year-old, from Perth, was left unable to move her arms and legs and relies on a machine to breath. She was also unable to speak until last week when, more than two months after the fall, she finally managed to say a few words to her husband, Jim.
Life changed for the couple on August 14 when Marie said she wasn't feeling well and went to the bathroom at about 10.30pm. Ten minutes later Jim heard a thud. He raced to the bathroom where he found Marie on the floor, bleeding from her nose.
Jim told the Daily Record how when he first saw her lying on the floor he thought he would lose her. He said: "I thought she was a goner. I tried to stem the flow of the blood but I was panicking."
He told how she began to regain consciousness and told him to call an ambulance. It was only then she realised she was unable to move.
Jim said: "She remembers sitting on the toilet, leaning on the water basin, and then she must have fallen off the seat and banged her head. While we were waiting for an ambulance, she became aware she couldn't move. She was just so helpless."
Marie was unable to breathe by herself and spent six weeks on a ventilator after the accident, before being fitted with a tracheostomy tube. She then had spinal surgery to stabilise the damage to her neck at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee on Aug 15. The next day she was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital's spinal injury unit in Glasgow to receive specialist care.
Doctors then told Marie and Jim that she is tetraplegic, which means she is unable to voluntarily move her arms, hands and legs. Jim said: "Marie was able to speak for the first time last week. I was in tears at the side of her bed after not hearing her voice for what felt so long.
"I've been by her side the whole time, and it's costing a fortune living in a hotel for all this time but I want to be here every step of the journey.
Marie medically retired from the NHS seven years ago after mobility problems and joint pain made it difficult for her to walk. Then in 2017 she was diagnosed with a narrowing of the spinal cord in her neck. The condition means impact to the area could cause paralysis - but surgery was deemed too risky.
Jim explained: "She had to be extremely careful. No sudden jolts, sometimes she would tell me to slow down when I was driving, in case it damaged her neck.
"If she was feeling unwell, I would typically bring a basin to her but she seemed happy taking herself to the bathroom that night."
She is now receiving intense physio therapy and electrode stimulation at the Spinal Unit's rehabilitation centre. There has been little sign of progress for Marie, except a tingling sensation in her hands when her husband Jim touches them.
Jim, who has vowed to never give up on his wife added: "Every time I see any progress in Marie it gives me a huge sense of joy. We don't know what life will be like for her now.
"I massage her hands every day and sometimes I see little flickers in her fingers which gives me some hope."
A fundraiser has been set up to help Marie be as comfortable as possible when goes home here.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea
