Mum left ‘unable to speak’ bounces back and secures her dream job with ambulance service
WOMAN SAYS SHE HAD HIT ‘ROCK BOTTOM’
A Mum-of-two who “hit rock bottom” and was temporarily left unable to speak or walk properly after being struck with a sudden illness has secured her dream job helping others.
Jenna Robinson, 32, has Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and fibromyalgia.
The Mail told in 2019 how her life was turned upside down by the illnesses. At the time, she had a “horrible jerking” in her neck, which affected her speech.
And she was left in excruciating pain as well as being temporarily unable to speak normally.
She also suffered other symptoms, and even partially lost her vision briefly too.
In 2019, the former dental nurse had also shared her story in a video on Youtube to help others who may have been experiencing the same or similar symptoms.
But now, Jenna says she is happy after securing her dream job working as an ambulance care assistant - with more plans for furthering her new career.
Since speaking to the Mail in October 2019, Jenna says she was due to return to work in January 2020, but was told she was not being kept on at her current job, where she had been on a maternity cover contract.
After difficulty finding work, some of which she puts down to declaring her illnesses to some of her potential employers, she managed to secure another job as a dental nurse in the March.
She says by this point, she was well. But by October 2020, she found herself out of work yet again and admits she was “struggling”.
A few “attacks” with FND had affected her speech again, which she puts down to stress. Coupled with the added childcare issues due to the pandemic, she says this didn’t help. I lost my job due to my illness,” said Jenna, who lives in Beverley. “Well, they said I can give them my notice or they will give me mine. So I had to leave.
“It was starting up again on and off and the stress levels of dentistry put me into another episode so I’m now doing my dream job of working as an ambulance care assistant.
“I’m not stressed. I look after poorly people and I pick people up to take them home and I’m going to be doing more training to then become a technician.
“Ever since the ambulance crew helped me that day I started with my condition, I knew I wanted to do it. Crazy how things have changed now.”
Miss Robinson told the Mail, with the added pressures the pandemic brought, dental nursing had all become too much for her, saying she even witnessed a dentist “pass out”.
“Dental nursing now is just horrible,” she said. “All the PPE we had to wear, the big builder masks.
“I really wanted to pursue my career in being part of the ambulance crew. I wanted to do that a long time ago.
“I was successful in my interview. I’m absolutely fine, I’m not stressed. You’d think I’d be more stressed, going into Covid wards and seeing people so poorly.
“I’ve just totally done a 180. People still can’t believe I’m walking again, I don’t need to be in a wheelchair.”
Miss Robinson had to have physiotherapy after being left unable to walk properly. She lost “all the feeling” in her right side and even her arms would go “really tingly”.
Her illnesses meant she felt like a burden on others.
“I did get to the point where I didn’t really want to be here anymore,” she said. “I know it’s a bit dramatic, but I just felt a burden on people.
“I really went to a very dark place to be honest because I just stopped communicating with people because it just took such an effort just to have a conversation.
“But one day I thought ‘right, that’s enough now’ and I tried to get on as best I could. I could see it was affecting my kids. For my daughters ‘to say why is mummy so poorly?’ It was heartbreaking.”
Miss Robinson, who proposed to her partner on New Year’s Eve in 2019, says he has been her “rock”.
And now she is in her dream job, Miss Robinson says she is in a much better place.
“If you told me last year or the year before you are going to be working for the ambulance crew and you’re going to be doing all you’ve ever wanted to do, I would be like ‘you’re lying, I don’t believe you,’” she said.
“I’m not saying it’s a miracle, I still have my bad days, but to say that I’m now doing this. [I have] no words really.”
Miss Robinson says her job in patient transport is “amazing”.
“It’s such a rewarding amazing job,” she said. “[I would like to say to people] don’t give up hope because you have to hit rock bottom to work your way up again.
“To say I had to teach myself how to talk again. I still have struggles, but I just to try and get on with it as best as I can.”