By Ashima Sharda Mahindra

Copyright timesnownews

For 36-year-old Hayley Black, a forceful yawn meant to just entertain herself landed her in serious, life-threatening trouble. When Hayley had just woken up to prepare milk for her newborn daughter, Amelia, she saw that the baby was yawning. Without thinking, she just copied the action, but the reflex suddenly left her in severe pain and later paralysis. “Most people start their day with a big yawn, and you’d never expect it to end up the way it did for me,” Hayley told The Sun. “I instinctively yawned and stretched, and straight away I felt this immediate electric shock sensation go through half my body,” she added. The former emergency call handler said she then started feeling electric spark sensations just like a seizure. While her husband Ian thought she was overreacting, he called an ambulance later. Hayley was then rushed to the hospital, but even on the way, her pain was excruciatingly unbearable. “The journey was excruciating. Every bump in the road felt like my spine was being ripped apart,” she said. While her scans did not show anything concerning, later tests revealed that two vertebrae in her neck – the C6 and C7 – had shot forward into the spinal cord from the force of the yawn, which crushed it completely. Hayley was then completely paralysed down her right-hand side. Hayley underwent surgery Hayley underwent an emergency surgery where doctors removed the damaged discs and fused her neck with a metal plate, leaving her with a tracheal scar. She could not walk at all and had to spend months in a wheelchair. For Hayley, the recovery was physically and emotionally draining, as it took a long time for her to even sit straight without any support. While the surgery did save her life, the damage to Hayley’s spinal cord was permanent, and she takes medicines to help her recover from the pain. She also frequently gets electric shocks all up the spine and in her head whenever she tries to walk. Hayley has also developed fibromyalgia – a chronic condition which causes widespread body pain, fatigue, sleep problems, and cognitive issues like memory or concentration difficulties. It is a central sensitization syndrome where the central nervous system processes pain differently, increasing pain sensitivity. “I often get pains shooting down my arms, up into my neck, and into my head. If I overdo it, the pain flares up for days,” Hayley said. “I can’t go to exercise classes or run around with my children. Every time I try to go back to work, I end up needing so much time off sick that I either lose the job or have to walk away,” Hayley added. What is a spinal cord injury? A spinal cord injury (or SCI) happens when there is damage to the spinal cord, which impairs its ability to send and receive signals, leading to changes in movement, sensation, and other bodily functions. Common causes include trauma from accidents like car crashes and falls, apart from non-traumatic causes like tumours, infections, and vascular issues. Doctors say the extent of the injury always determines the symptoms, which range from loss of strength and feeling to paralysis in the limbs or the entire body.