‘I went for the tackle and heard my neck crack’

Luke Orton was playing in a rugby tournament on the Isle of Wight in July 2023 when his life changed forever.

“I went for the tackle and heard my neck crack,” he said.

“It felt like eating a cracker or a dry Weetabix – it turned out to be the knee of the guy I touched – then I was paralyzed on the beach.”

He is one of many patients receiving specialist rehabilitation treatment at Salisbury Hospital’s Spinal Treatment Centre.

As the unit celebrates its 40th anniversary, BBC South spent six months with staff and patients. These are some of his stories.

Roxy Wilson, from Sherborne, Dorset, was in the crowd for Elton John’s set at Glastonbury last year when she says people suddenly surged and she felt shocked.

He required surgery to remove a disc that was crushing his spinal cord.

Roxy said, “It was a case of one wrong move and it would have broken my string.”

“Unfortunately, when they went to remove the disc, the flow of blood and oxygen and everything shocked all my nerves and I ended up being paralyzed.”

After four months in the unit, Roxy was able to stand with support, meaning she no longer needed to use a wheelchair full time.

“I’m moving out of here now, no doubt about it, I’m moving out,” she explained.

And five months after her accident, she did just that, beaming with a big smile as staff and patients cheered and clapped.

“Suddenly I feel like I’m 10 feet tall, not 5 feet 8 inches,” says Roxy. “I think every emotion is possible – I’m scared and I’m going to miss it a lot.”

While the unit’s teams work to rehabilitate people with spinal cord injuries, not everyone is able to walk again.

Consultant Chalil Vinod said: “Patients have a perception that a lot of physiotherapy can enable them to walk – and I dispel that myth.

“In traumatic spinal cord injury, when the spinal cord heals – that bone piece heals – but they forget that there’s a neurological part there and once that’s damaged, “It cannot be repaired.”

To help people cope with the often life-changing consequences of their spinal cord injuries, patients are assisted with their physical rehabilitation as well as mental resilience.

Clinical psychologist Dr Nigel North said: “You can’t take away hope. We can’t leave someone hopeless by saying it’s never going to change because that would be an absolutely terrible situation to leave someone in.”

For many people, the healing journey involves grieving the loss of their life before a spinal cord injury.

“You’re grieving something that’s gone and you can’t get it back to the way it used to be,” Dr. North said.

Patient Feargus Powell said: “I feel like I moan a lot but that’s because I’m impatient with this life, I want my old life back.”

In August 2023 a tree surgeon was removing rotten branches from a tree in Yelverton, Dartmoor, when he fell 46 feet (14 m).

“I was hanging there for a second, then I heard a clicking or rattling sound and then I woke up on the floor,” he said.

“I didn’t feel any pain right away, I couldn’t see, everything was blurry.

“I think I fell about 14 meters (45.9 feet), which is bigger than a two-story house.”

For Fearghas, the focus of her rehabilitation is upper body movement and strength.

She has some sensation below the waist but has very limited use of her legs, with no feeling or movement below the knee.

A year after the accident, the tree surgeon from Plymouth, Devon found the courage to return to the accident site.

Looking towards the tree from which he had fallen, he said: “I almost started crying this morning because it felt like it was too much, but now I’m here, I feel quite sick.

“It’s very strange. My whole life has changed now – by that tree.”

Following his rugby accident, Luke, from Ventnor, Isle of Wight, requires regular physiotherapy.

Initially told he could only use his biceps, he is also building strength in his triceps and wrists.

Although he will never be able to use his legs again, Luke is determined to move on with his life.

“If I sit in bed and say, ‘Oh, I’ve lost my legs my whole life,’ I’m not going to get anywhere,” he said.

“You have to move on, continue to have the life you probably had before, but it’s going to be completely different. At the end of the day, I’m still the same person.”

The effects of spinal cord injury go beyond physical and mental rehabilitation.

When Annamarie fell down the stairs, three vertebrae in her spine were broken, leaving her with no sensation below her chest.

During her time in the spinal unit, her teenage daughter had to live with her grandmother and Annamarie’s father passed away.

“It’s a lot, you can’t even be there for your family, you’re so cut off from everything that’s going on, which is hard,” he said.

Eighteen months after her accident, Annemarie has made amazing progress.

She is now able to walk with support and live in an extra care unit close to her family in Romsey, Hampshire.

But she ultimately struggles to find a suitable place to live with her daughter again.

Caroline Burson, from Alresford, Hampshire, was on holiday in Cyprus last summer when her hand “went completely dead”.

She waited with her partner for a taxi to take her to hospital, but “by the time it arrived, I was completely paralyzed from the neck down”.

Caroline says doctors initially thought she had sunstroke, but an MRI scan showed it was more serious and she was flown back to the UK by air ambulance.

Caroline had a spinal stroke. A clot had blocked blood flow to his spinal cord.

During Caroline’s time in the unit, she progressed from supported walking to independent movement.

“I was told there was no improvement,” he said, describing the feeling of being able to stand without assistance as “absolutely incredible.”

“When I came here I said I was going to get out of here — and I am,” she said.

And eight months after her spinal stroke, she leaves the unit on foot – with the aid of a cane and with immense pride.