Physiotherapy played a huge part in getting me up and walking again, but I knew that part of it came from within myself too. I used to find it so so frustrating that I wasn’t able to get up and even just walk across to the other side of the room to get something. It was literally as if I was tied to the sofa and I almost felt as if I was an old woman, bed bound.

I hated not being able to move, I remember waking up in the morning in my Mum’s room. I could hear the commotion downstairs of my Mum getting my brother ready for school, I wanted to be down there with them but instead I was tied to the bed, waiting for my Mum to come and get me. Opposite my bed there was this picture, I grew to hate this picture and I still do as it reminds me of these times. I studied every inch of that picture, just too make time go faster, as sitting doing nothing was pretty boring.

This frustration surely helped move me on. The part I hated the most was during the night when I couldn’t get up to take myself to the loo. I had to wake my Mum up every time so that she could help me. I used to feel so terrible about doing this. My Mum was probably just as exhausted as I was, going up and down to the hospital every day, whilst still trying to look after the house and do all the daily chores. I felt terrible for waking her up from her sleep and I knew it would probably take her a while to get off again, having lots of thoughts going through her head. One night I just couldn’t get to sleep myself and started to think about this situation. I thought that if I could get myself out of bed, I could then hold onto the side of the bed and walk towards that chest of drawers, holding onto that I could then grab on to the wardrobe and make my way into the en-suite bathroom where I could hold onto the walls and sit myself down on the loo. ‘I’ve cracked it’, I thought. ‘This is great I’ll never have to wake Mum up again’.

The next morning I explained my plan to Mum. At first she was a bit apprehensive and was worried that I’d fall in the night and that she wouldn’t know anything about it. I said that I would show her that I could do it there and then, which I did, but Mum was still worried, so she said that I could do it, but I would still have to wake her up so that she would be aware if I did fall.

After about a week of showing Mum that I was able to do it by myself, she finally agreed that I wouldn’t have to wake her up and I was so pleased that I wouldn’t have to wake her. Although I’m sure that sometimes she naturally woke up whenever I did and she still watched me, just to make sure!