A fit and healthy woman has told how her “back ache” turned out to be a rare spinal stroke which left her paralyzed from the chest down.
Lucy Dunford was 19 years old when she first started suffering from “stabbing pains” between her shoulder blades in December 2024 — which she had brushed off as normal body aches.
And a couple of weeks later, she was rushed to the hospital after the pain grew “unbearable” before she developed pins and needles in her hands and feet and became too weak to walk.
Now 21, she is currently in a wheelchair after suffering the stroke, which usually affects people between 50 and 70 years old, according to The Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital.
Lucy is paralyzed from the neck down and is only able to move her arms. She also suffers from terrible nerve pain and severe muscle spasms, which are sometimes so bad she can’t control her legs.
She is now crowdfunding to raise money for specialist physiotherapy treatment to help build her muscles and stop her “uncontrollable spasms”.
Lucy, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said, “Words can’t describe how life has changed after a spinal cord injury.
“Everything is difficult; there is no such thing as a simple task anymore.
“As soon as I wake up, there are obstacles such as spasms making it very difficult, so it takes me a long time just to sit on the end of the bed before having to use all my strength to get into my chair.
“My spasms in my body are so hard to live with; not only can I not control my legs and core, but they move involuntarily, which makes being in my chair unsafe as they throw me around.
“As well, nerve pain is really severe some days, where I have to cancel plans and stay in bed to endure the pain.
“The best way I can describe the pain is like if all the blood in my veins was replaced with lava — my whole body from neck down was on fire.
“Everything I used to love about my life has been snatched away from me. I can’t have a day off or be able to have a chill day in bed because I’m at risk of pressure sores.
“Even fun activities, such as going to lunch or to the movies, I have to do double the amount of planning, and the feeling of being an inconvenience to friends or strangers is such a struggle.”
A spinal stroke is a rare condition and is caused by a disruption in the blood supply to the spinal cord, according to the Brain & Spine Foundation.
Prior to the incident on December 16, 2024, Lucy said she was fit and had her whole future ahead of her; she had just started studying FDA leadership and management at the University of Hull.
She said, “Before my stroke, I was in the gym five times per week and really prioritized eating clean and drinking water and getting as many steps in per day.
“I was also working two jobs at the time, as a barmaid and at a hotel, and had just started at university at Hull.”
Lucy was relaxing at home when the back pain she had been experiencing worsened.
The student said that when the pain didn’t leave after taking some paracetamol, she rang 111, who told her to go to the hospital as soon as possible.
She said, “My hands and feet went numb, and when I tried to stand up, I couldn’t support my own weight.
“I had to be carried to the car where I couldn’t do my own seatbelt I was so weak.”
Her partner — who doesn’t want to be named — drove her to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.
Upon arrival, she had to wait in A&E for an hour before being taken to a triage room — but at this point, she has revealed she lost all function in her left leg.
Lucy said she was then taken to the major injury ward, where they performed blood tests, ECGs, and CT scans of her brain and lungs to find out what was going on.
But the next morning, Lucy said she woke up paralyzed from her chest down, which she described as “terrifying.”
She was later transferred to Dewsbury Hospital for a full-body MRI before returning to Pinderfields to have a lumbar puncture so they could collect spinal fluid and tests for transverse myelitis.
Transverse myelitis is a rare neurological condition that is caused by inflammation of the spinal cord — it damages the nerves and can leave permanent scars or lesions, according to the NHS.
She said, “After three weeks, it was confirmed I didn’t have this or any virus, and throughout my stay, I had many tests which all indicated I was perfectly healthy.
“They suggested a spinal stroke around the three-week mark of being in hospital, however I wasn’t fully diagnosed until four months of being in the hospital on April 1.”
She was discharged the same month and has since been engaging in physiotherapy to help regain some independence.
The student has said doctors don’t know what caused the stroke, labeling it as idiopathic — this means they don’t know what caused it, according to the NHS.
She currently lives with her partner, whom she relies on for finances and transport.
Lucy has also courageously continued at university.
Though she has revealed that coming to terms with her new life has been “difficult.”
Lucy has already paid for £19,122 (approximately $25,848.64) — including accommodation and food — for stem cell treatment out of her own pocket last year.
But she is currently raising money to pay for an intensive ten-week physiotherapy course — she has been taking part in physio since August 2025.
She says the rehabilitation will help “guide the new stem cells to my damaged nerves” and help them regrow and recover while teaching her body how to do things again, such as controlling muscles, spasms and nerve pain.
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