A broken nose nearly broke Kim’s world

A talented young footballer’s life was turned upside down when she underwent a nose operation for a sports injury – and woke up unable to urinate.

Kim Macfarlane, 23, who was Dunfermline Athletic’s ladies captain, got hit in the face while playing against Raith Rovers Ladies in October 2014.

She opted to get surgery to mend her squint nose.

However, while in hospital, she developed Fowlers Syndrome, which affects one in a million women and can leave them unable to urinate.

In the two years since her diagnosis, Kim has fought extreme pain, mental health issues and was even self-harming as she confronted the agony she was in.

She has now come forward with the story of her struggle with the disease, which normally occurs in young women after childbirth.

Kim said: “After my nose operation I asked to go to the toilet before I went home but I could just not urinate, even though I felt like I was bursting. I had to be fitted with a catheter that goes into your stomach but by January 2016, I ended up spending a month in Victoria Hospital (in Glasgow).

“I started self-harming as the pain affected my emotions and I was stuck in a room by myself the whole time.”

In the last year, Kim has taken several overdoses, which led to her being sectioned last summer. While she was being treated, she still couldn’t see a way out and jumped off a bridge on to the M90 and broke two vertebra in the process.

Another operation to stimulate the bladder nerve failed in January and within a month she was back in intensive care because of an overdose.

Kim, who was a care assistant prior to the freak incident, confessed she misses playing football but hopes to get back to playing soon.

“Sometimes I think I shouldn’t have gone for the ball or why did I have the operation but I guess anyone would feel the same,” she said.

“In the future, it is possible that I will have my bladder removed. That’s scary but I will have a better quality of life.

“I really miss football but I hope that I will be able to play some day when my health improves.”

Kim is now the team photographer for Bayside Ladies.

Picture: SWNS. Aspiring footballer Kim Macfarlane had her life turned upside down in 2014.