Mum on a mission to raise funds for charity and get back to work
Mum-of-two Mary Dalgarno wasn’t concerned when she started suffering a tingling sensation in her toes – but within hours she could feel nothing from the chest down. She was rushed to hospital where tests revealed she had suffered a spinal stroke. Doctors have since told Mary they did not believe she would ever walk again. But, 12 months on, she is back on her feet and determined to do all she can to raise awareness of spinal strokes – which account for just one per cent of all cases. Mary, of Aberdeen, said: “I’d been a qualified nurse for more than 30 years when I took ill and had even worked with stroke patients but I’d never heard of a spinal stroke. “What happened was scary and there were days when I worried I’d never walk again but I never gave up hope.” The 51-year-old was getting ready for work last June when she first started feeling a tingle in one foot. She added: “At first, I didn’t think anything of it. I felt totally fine so just continued getting ready. “I realised I’d time to spare before having to dash out the door so I sat down for five minutes and felt the tingling sensation starting to work its way up my leg. “I wasn’t sure what was going on but when I tried to stand up I couldn’t so knew something wasn’t right.” Mary called her doctor who, after examining her at her house, sent her to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. She said: “By this time, the tingling sensation was in both legs and had gone up to just under my chest. “I couldn’t walk or weight bear. I couldn’t move my legs unless I used my hand to lift them. And I had no sensation from just under my bra downwards.
“I couldn’t feel anything sharp, I couldn’t feel anything hot or cold. I had no sensation at all.”
Mary had a number of tests including blood tests and a lumber puncture to check for any infection. An MRI scan revealed she had suffered a rare blood clot in the blood supply of her spine.
She said: “When the doctor said the Strokes are usually caused by a blood clot or bleed on the brain but a spinal stroke occurs when the clot cuts off the blood supply in the spine. words, I just stared at him. I’d always been so fit and well and was never in hospital for anything other than having my children or work.
“I’d never heard of a spinal stroke but I had worked with patients who had suffered the more usual kind of stroke and I knew that when they were left paralysed, then sometimes they didn’t recover very well. I was Strokes are the fourth largest cause of death in the UK, taking a life every just 50 years old, with lots of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to go.
“I told myself I’d to do everything I could to be able to walk again.”
Mary, who was supported by her husband Alan, 51, and children Kris, 26, and Kirsty, 24, spent the next nine weeks in hospital having intensive physiotherapy, which continued for months even after she was allowed home.
She said: “The physio was hard but I’m determined and did all I could to push mysel f. Trying to walk when you have no feeling in your legs is not easy. “The muscles were working and my brain was telling my muscles what to do but my legs themselves were like jelly. “It was like trying to walk with thick sponges tied to the bottom of your feet.”
I couldn’t feel anything sharp or hot or cold… no sensation at all