A mother has sent an urgent warning to gym-goers after she was left paralysed from carrying out a routine gym exercise.
Henrietta Paxton is a PE teacher from Salisbury, Wiltshire and ended up with life-altering injuries after an accident while working out, vowing to spread a message of warning to fellow exercise nuts.
The 40-year-old was in the gym when she was crushed by a weight, and following MRI and CT scans at Southampton General Hospital, she was told by health professionals that she had broken and dislocated parts of her spine, suffering a complete spinal cord injury, paralysing her from the waist down.
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Henrietta was in the middle of a set of squats when the barbell slipped backwards. When she readjusted to bring it back to her shoulders, she overcorrected and knocked herself forwards, getting crushed under the 120kg weight.
'That was probably the most terrifying point of my entire life'
She was told it's rare for people to regain feeling in the spine after this type of injury, with the mum-of-two undergoing a procedure the following day to bolt five of her vertebrae together to stabilise her spine.
But ultimately, she has not been able to get around her own home so she has launched a JustGiving page to help and raise money to convert her three-story house, which has garnered £230,000 in donations.
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Reflecting on the incident, she said: "It was terrifying. That was probably the most terrifying point of my entire life - that moment there when I knew what was happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it as well, so it was awful,
"It was a massive thud. A huge thud. That's the sensation I felt in my back as it went."
She admitted: "I think deep down I knew. I heard it, I obviously heard it go and felt my back break and people around me were obviously trying to keep me calm and saying things would be alright but I knew what I had done straight away."
Saying that the pain was 'indescribable', she admitted she should have been using safety bars, and that she used to until joining this specific gym, something that she has urged people to do.
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"This gym don't have any [squat safety bars] and it just became the norm not to use them but looking back, it's just a ridiculous idea to squat without them and I would say to anyone ever now just don't squat without safety bars.
"The surgery wasn't what worried me as much as just the damage I'd done to my spinal cord which they can't do anything about that. The surgery is just to fix the bone," she explained.
She spent six weeks in hospital after the incident on 29 May this year, before being moved to the Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury, where she is currently receiving treatment.
'I've got so much stuff still to do with my life'
Henrietta is also determined to regain movement in her legs despite doctors' doubts, using a standing frame everyday to maintain strength in her lower body.
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"I've got so much stuff still to do with my life, I'm not going to let this take hold and reduce the quality of my life, let alone the quality of my family's life. That's what kind of gets me up every day and keeps me going,
"On the whole you've just got to get on with it because life goes on and it'll go on with or without you so I'd rather be involved," she said about pursuing new sports such as wheelchair rugby.
Revealing that she needs a platform lift outside to get up the stairs as well as a floor lift fitted inside so she can go between floors and a new adapted bathroom, Henrietta hopes that the work will be done in the next six weeks before she is discharged.
Speaking about her goals for her home, she added: "It's a big target but I'm feeling hopeful.
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"We know it's a lot, we don't get any grants to make the changes to our house, nothing at all. So we have to pay for all of that ourselves as well as any further rehab," she admitted.
"It's a three-storey townhouse, which is just ridiculous. You couldn't have picked a more unsuitable house for a wheelchair.
"Because my long term goal is to stand again and to walk, if I want to chase that goal then I have to fund private rehab," Henrietta highlighted.
Joshua Nair