Two days after the crash I had surgery to fuse my vertebrae

Christina Barnett was only six weeks away from completing her beauty therapy course when she was terribly injured in the car being driven by her friend from pre-school days, Kathryn Forman. Now she wonders if she will ever be able to have a job and whether her dream of a career in beauty therapy is now lost. Sitting at home last week she said: “When I woke up properly in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow, my mum asked me if I knew what happened. “She said I had been in a crash and Kathryn was driving. “I was in Aberdeen for a week and then 11 weeks in Glasgow. Two days after the crash I had surgery to fuse vertebrae and pin my left ankle. I had no feeling and was paralysed from the chest down. I was in intensive care in the orthopaedic trauma ward until the transfer to Glasgow. “At the spinal injuries unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital I was put into isolation as I had developed shingles during the transfer. “It was explained to me that the swelling to my spinal cord would take six weeks to go down and if I did not get movement back to my legs within the first six weeks, then I would never walk again. “At three weeks I was able to flinch a toe, by seven weeks, I managed to stand for the first time strapped into a walking frame. Recovery in the following two weeks was extremely good and I was walking with crutches for short distances by nine weeks. “I had to work hard and attended physio twice a day, five days a week for 11 weeks. I was discharged from hospital 12 weeks to the day after the crash. “I don’t use a stick and I can walk a bit but after about 10 minutes I get tired and develop more of a limp. “From now on because of my injuries I will have to drive an automatic. “In my last week in Glasgow I had an MRI scan where it was found I had a torn ligament and a lot of damage to my knee. “I had surgery on my knee and ankle in March and I’m back in September to see if further surgery is required on my ankle.”