Tanya-lee Holmes went to sleep with a sore neck and woke up with paralysis down one side of her body. But the shock was preceded by weeks of ‘strange’ symptoms.
The mother then went through several traumatic months, filled with hospital visits, scans and operations, eventually ending her life as an incomplete quadriplegic who could no longer walk unaided.
Tanya-lee’s symptoms spontaneously damaged two neck nerves, changing her life forever.
In May 2016, the then 39-year-old woman suffered from unexplained neck pain for six weeks, which her doctor thought was simply a kinked neck.
“We treated it with painkillers, acupuncture, I changed my pillows – I tried absolutely everything,” Tanya-lee, from Bathurst, New South Wales, told FEMAIL. “We did X-rays and CT scans and everything.
‘Then I suddenly got a tingling sensation in my left hand.’
The mother went back to her doctor and had an MRI scan done, but the test was again inconclusive. There was no visible damage to her cervical spine.
“We assumed it was a pinched nerve, but there’s not much you can do about that. Just rest, use heat packs and give it time to calm down.”
Tanya-lee Holmes went to sleep with a sore neck and woke up with paralysis down one side of her body – but the ‘shock’ event was preceded by weeks of ‘strange’ unexplained symptoms
Three days later, Tanya-lee woke up and felt a shooting pain shoot through her body.
“I stood up and it was like someone plugged me into a Powerpoint,” she recalled. “I got an electric shock in my spine and automatically started throwing up.”
Despite her condition, Tanya-lee still had to take her children to school and carry out her duties as a parent.
“We lived outside of the city, so I had to drive my 17-year-old son 15 minutes to the bus stop. I had to drive through the city with a bucket between my legs because I was still throwing up the whole time.”
Tanya-lee then went through a traumatic few months, filled with hospital visits, scans and operations
Tanya-lee’s youngest son was only nine and went to a school down the road. When she got home from dropping him off, she was suffering from a ‘devastating’ migraine.
The mother suffered a mild stroke due to migraine in 2010 and is therefore always aware of the symptoms, such as neck pain and nausea.
‘I tried to sleep it off. I thought it was a migraine so I took some Panadol and went to bed.
‘Two hours later I woke up and the most excruciating pain i have ever felt in my life. TThe pain was so bad that it wasn’t until I tried to get out of bed that I realized I couldn’t move or feel my entire body.
‘I fell to the ground because tThe left side of my body just wasn’t working. I dragged myself down the hallway of our house and called an ambulance.’
After several tests at the hospital, doctors discovered that Tanya-lee’s C4 and C5 – the neck nerves in her spine – had spontaneously ruptured.
“There was absolutely no reason, it just happened,” the mother said. “A few days before I had scans that showed my cervical spine was intact, no bulging discs, so it was strange.”
Tanya-lee’s symptoms lead to two cervical spinal nerves spontaneously destroying, changing her life forever
The mother had a migraine in 2010 that caused a mini stroke, so she is always aware of the symptoms, which include neck pain and nausea
The hospital wanted to fly Tanya-lee in by helicopter, but bad weather forced her to make the seven-hour journey to Sydney by road.
Tanya-lee recalls being “shocked” and “furious” when her doctors asked her family to say goodbye to her, as they were unsure if she would survive the night.
“I didn’t let my husband come down with me because I wanted my kids to have a sense of normalcy at home. I did it all myself,” she said.
‘I wouldn’t even let him tell my friends. It sounds ridiculous to me now because I really needed people. But I chose to do it myself because I didn’t want to put anyone else through that.’
Her eldest son was in the middle of his HSC and Tanya-lee felt that on top of the stress, he didn’t have to worry about his mother in hospital.
“I think I went into fight or flight mode. Two of my kids have cerebral palsy and a lot of PTSD around hospitals. I felt like I had to pull myself through and I didn’t need anyone’s help.
“I was so afraid of dying, but I didn’t want their last memory of me to be in the hospital.”
“I didn’t let my husband come down with me because I wanted my kids to have a sense of normalcy at home. I did it all myself,” she said
Tanya-lee now has a titanium plate stabilising her cervical spine and said the recovery time was a few weeks.
‘Within two weeks of surgery, I was able to walk unassisted, but I still had weakness and numbness on the left side of my body.
‘Three months later I suddenly deteriorated and the paralysis on my left side became worse and eventually I could no longer stand on my own and could not walk at all without assistance. Doctors still have no idea how this happened.’
Now Tanya-lee is in constant pain due to her nerve damage. The mother cannot walk without a wheelchair or walking stick.
“It’s like my skin is on fire,” she explained. “It feels like there are green ants swarming around my skin all the time.”
‘The pain has become so bad that sometimes I rip the skin off my thighs from scratching because that is the only relief I get.’
The mother explained that her skin is sensitive to touch and feel, and if her husband accidentally brushes his arm against her, it can “freak her out” and feel like an “electric shock.”
Tanya-lee now has a titanium plate stabilising her cervical spine, and said the recovery time was a few weeks – but her condition mysteriously deteriorated
The mother has had a hard time finding work, as many potential employers called her a “liability” to her face
One of the hardest aspects of Tanya-lee’s ‘new normal’ is how people treat her.
‘Getting a disability is so much harder than being born with it, because you just don’t know. My children have never known any better, that’s how they were born and that’s how they live.
‘When you get a disability, the first thing you think about is all the things you planned for the future that will never happen.
“My husband and I had our kids young because we wanted to grow up with them, and we wanted to go off and have our own adventures. But now it’s like – are we going to be able to do that? WWhat can I do?
The mother also said she finds it difficult to find work, with many potential employers calling her a “troublemaker” to her face.
‘I was always an independent person, I was the caregiver. I didn’t want to be cared for. But now I am a burden because I can’t stand for long or sit for long.
“If I sit too long, I get spinal migraines, it’s a buildup of pressure at the base of my skull. And then I’m out of action for days. It’s pretty debilitating. No one really wanted to let me try it.”
Tanya-lee now runs a successful bakery where she also provides disability advocacy and helps other businesses create inclusive environments
Despite everything, Tanya-lee found a bright spot in the dark times.
‘I’ve always used baking as a tool to cope with my anxiety, but I’ve now started doing it more for my mental health.
‘Now I run a successful bakery and I get to work on advocacy and inclusion for people with disabilities. I also help other companies create an inclusive work environment for their employees with disabilities.’
“The first few years I really hated my life because it wasn’t what I planned,” Tanya-lee said.
‘If you had asked me eight years ago how I felt when I had a spinal cord injury, I would have given you a lot of insults, because that’s how I felt then.
“But now I can say that I am proud of my disability and the person I have become because of it.”
