Grandmother told she would never walk again steps into new life thanks to Crawley rehabilitation centre

The incident led her to spend six agonising months in hospital, where Maureen made the decision to embark on life-changing surgery to relieve her pain. However, this carried a huge risk.

Yet, nearly three years on, thanks to Maureen’s inspirationally positive attitude and sessions at specialist activity-based rehabilitation centre, Neurokinex, she is beginning to regain her independence and the ability to walk unsupported once more.

On what should have been a happy and celebratory day, Maureen’s Golden Wedding Anniversary, she instead went into in hospital before eventually undergoing surgery on her spine. Maureen had a difficult decision to make: to continue living with unexplainable pain or undergo surgery that could leave her paralysed from the waist down, losing the use of her legs.

Following the life-changing operation, Maureen returned home to the care of her husband and community physios who tended to her twice a week. It was through these visits that Maureen learned of Neurokinex.

In January 2021, Maureen started at her local Neurokinex Centre in Gatwick for weekly sessions of activity based neurorehabilitation and saw improvements to her physical and mental abilities almost immediately.

Maureen said: “The team really are the most wonderful people and since I’ve been working with them, I’ve been able to do so much more.”Before starting with Neurokinex Maureen relied on her electric wheelchair to keep her mobile as she was unable to use the lower half of her body. Yet, since starting her rehab with Neurokinex she can now walk confidently and independently for short periods of time.

She said: “I can now walk around the supermarket when my husband and I do the weekly food shop instead of sitting in my electric chair. The Neurokinex team has really motivated me to achieve more and more each session. It is just like going to see a group of friends, everyone is so friendly and supportive. There has never been a day I don’t want to go.”

Maureen is now looking to the future with great hope about what more she can achieve. Thanks to the stability and strength she has built through her sessions at Neurokinex, Maureen is now planning a trip to Australia to visit her son and his family, something that would have been unimaginable for her just a short while ago.

Maureen said: “After my illness and surgery I worried I wouldn’t be able to visit my son and grandchildren in Australia or enjoy our annual trips to Lanzarote ever again.

"To be planning these trips now is incredible and after all we’ve been through, it’s more important than ever that I get to see them. I can’t thank the Neurokinex team enough for giving me the confidence – as well as the physical ability – to make these trips. Through them I have a new lease of life.”