NEW ZEALAND mum, Teina Boyd, is lying in a hospital bed uncertain of whether she’ll ever be the same again, after she fractured her neck hanging out with friends.
Do you ever take your health for granted? I know I do. But after hearing this terrible story about a 28-year-old New Zealand mum, I’ve vowed to be a lot more grateful that I can bound out of bed each morning, and tend to my children’s needs without a second thought.
Being a parent is a tough gig at the best of times, but a freak accident can turn your family’s life upside down.
One minute you can be running around in the backyard with your son and a football, the next minute you can be lying in a hospital bed wondering if you will ever walk again.
Meet Teina Boyd
Teina Boyd is a fun-loving, hard-working mum from Auckland.
She has an adorable four-year-old son who thinks the world of her, and she’s the former captain of New Zealand’s Under-19 women’s volleyball team.
A freak accident on October 25, this year, has left her with a broken neck and unable to move her legs.
It was Labour Weekend and Teina was hanging out with some friends in Wellington. She jumped onto a bed and misjudged her landing, causing a fracture of the C5 vertebra.
“She dived on to the bed … and she hit her head and fractured the vertebrae, ” friend and family spokeswoman Nikki Farrell told The New Zealand Herald.
“She’s a bit of a goofy girl and likes to have a bit of a laugh — and that’s what happened. It was just a freak accident.”
Teina was flown from Wellington to Christchurch where she spent a week in Christchurch Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
She has since been moved to a rehabilitation centre to continue her treatment, and with the help of family and friends is trying to remain positive and strong for her son, Willy.
“At the moment she can move her arms and her head, but she’s in a neck-brace and she can’t move her legs yet. “There’s no feeling in her legs,” says Nikki, who prays that her friend can make a full recovery.
“Teina is one of the strongest and most positive people around and is always smiling and cheerful to everyone she meets,” Nikki told Stuff.co.nz
It can happen to anyone
It’s hard to fathom how your life will change after suffering a serious injury, like Teina’s. Doing normal, everyday things are likely to be a constant physical and mental battle, and maintaining your role as a mother will be harder than any of us could possibly imagine. But Teina is not alone, there are many mothers who have suffered spinal cord injuries, who have eventually found a way to be the kind of parent they always wanted to be, despite their tragic circumstances.
Meet Aussie mum, Sam Bloom
Sam Bloom was holidaying with her husband and three children in Thailand in January, 2013.
A few days into their trip, Sam leant on an unsecure railing and fell six metres onto a concrete floor.
She suffered a broken back and a major head injury, and according to her Facebook page, was very lucky to survive the accident.
After spending more than six months in hospitals and rehab centres, Sam is back at home doing what she loves best — being a mum to her three boys. And despite being diagnosed as complete paraplegic, she is swimming, kayaking and constantly striving to get stronger.
And then there’s Jessie Bruton from NSW …
Jessie was left paralysed after the birth of her third child.
Early in her pregnancy, she began to feel numbness in her legs, which eventually led to her stomach. Jessie underwent an emergency caesarean four weeks before her baby’s due date. After giving birth to her little premmie boy, Klay, Jessie was unable to walk.
Scans revealed severe nerve damage to her spine, and she is still undergoing treatment to try and restore full mobility to her legs.
“I’ve been doing physio or hydrotherapy five days a week but still the furthest I’ve been able to walk is 200 metres,” she said.
“I’ve got two mobility walkers to get around at home and a wheelchair when I go out, and so much support from my husband, family and friends,” she told the Illawarra Mercury. I try and stay positive but the hardest thing for me is that I can’t look after my boys on my own because if something happened, I wouldn’t be able to get to them quick enough. And I haven’t been able to carry my new baby around, something you take for granted as a mother,” Jessie said.
What’s next for Teina Boyd?
Although the future might be uncertain for Teina, and the road ahead of her will be a difficult and emotional one, she certainly has an enormous amount of support behind her.
Her loved ones have set up a fundraising page on givealittle, to help Teina pay for her ongoing medial costs.
