Brave Amanda delighted to go home after months in hospital

Amanda Newton, from Yapton, was paralysed from the waist down in a cycling accident last August.

The back brake of her bike failed and she careered down Bury Hill before crashing into a road sign, fracturing her spine.

Amanda, 44, will never be able to walk again and has been at the spinal ward of Stoke Mandeville Hospital since her crash.

Last month she underwent a successful operation which means she is now able to sit up without the need for a back brace.

And there was more good news last week when she was told she could be allowed home to her husband and four children as early as next month.

“Being told I was going to St Joseph’s (ward), my final destination before home, left me in disbelief,” Amanda said.

“Only a few weeks ago I was tied to machines and drips and a morphine pump after major surgery.

“Now I am free from that and getting stronger day by day.

“The idea of going home is just all your dreams come true at once, especially after getting so close and having it taken away from me by 
the surgery.”

She added: “I want to be home by my birthday, on February 2, that’s my ultimate goal but I know that is pushing things.”

Amanda first told of her terrible accident on Facebook, just hours after being told she was unlikely to ever walk again.

Still she managed a smile from her hospital bed, and in regular posts since she has bravely charted her highs and lows, remaining incredibly positive throughout.

On January 2 she posted: “I have been given a standing frame of my very own to take home with me.

“Humans were meant to stand upright on 2 legs and although I can’t do this on my own anymore it is still very important that I do.”

Amanda, a former marathon runner, described Christmas Day away from her family as ‘surreal’.

“What really choked me was Christmas Day I had a Christmas cracker, but no one to pull it with,” she said.

“That was a real reminder of how much I missed my family.”

But she enjoyed a ‘special time’ with her parents, who came to visit in the afternoon, and on Boxing Day her husband and children drove up to be with her for the day.

“Vic and the children came on Boxing Day and we made the best of what we had and in some ways it was really special,” Amanda added.

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