Bride-to-be in hotel balcony fall vows to walk down aisle
ASLEEPWALKING bride-to-be who survived a 60ft plunge from a Spanish hotel balcony has pledged to walk again for her wedding.
Mother-of-three Coral Skipp, 47, is “lucky to be alive” after breaking her back, hip and leg in the fall from her hotel room.
She suffered the devastating fall as she went sleepwalking during a 4am nightmare – but was found alive by her fiancé lying on a roof under their balcony.
College worker Ms Skipp said: “I must have a guardian angel watching over me.”
She and fiancé John Lloyd, of Llansilin, Powys, were on the last night of their four-day break at the Fun Vistamar hotel in the village of es Canar, Ibiza.
She said: “The last thing I can remember was going to bed about midnight – the next thing I’m waking up the following afternoon in a hospital bed in absolute agony.
“I’ve suffered from night terrors since I was a child and I can only think it happened after having a severe nightmare. I’m not sure how I survived, I feel lucky to be alive – it’s a minor miracle.
“But now comes the rehabilitation as I want to be able to walk down the aisle when I get married next summer.”
Ms Skipp has had surgery and had a back brace fitted, but doctors have warned her she could face up to 16 weeks in hospital as she recovers.
She is bed-bound at Hospital Can Misses and admitted she “has a long way to go”.
The couple will marry after 16 years together at a barn near their rural home next August.
Ms Skipp said: “I’m feeling very low, but I’m determined that I’m going to walk down the aisle for my wedding.”
Health and safety officer Mr Lloyd is at her bedside after “what could have been a tragic accident” on the final night of their four-day break.
He said: “It has been a nightmare, it was horrendous but at least she’s here and alive.
“We’d had a quiet night with friends, a meal and a bottle of wine before a relatively early night for our flight home the next day.
“I’d woken up in the night and realised Coral wasn’t there so I called her. Her phone didn’t answer and the door was locked – I eventually looked over the balcony and saw some legs on top of a roof two storeys down.
“She fell from a balcony after suffering a bad dream. It was horrible.”
“I screamed and shouted to Coral not to move, but she stirred and fell another 25ft.”
She was taken to hospital by emergency services after they found her lying on the ground, semi-conscious being comforted Mr Lloyd.
Mr Lloyd praised the “fantastic” doctors and nurses as well as their friends and family who have raised more than £4,500 to help the couple.
Support worker Coral’s colleagues at Derwen College in Gobowen sent a get well soon message.