It’s St. Patrick’s Day here in Ireland so salutations to our friends and families all around the world. This day celebrates resilience and the luck of the Irish, so here’s a reminder of day-to-day courage and fortitude from one of our own.
Geraldine Lavelle endured a multitude of significant physical health challenges following her tragic cycling accident, which resulted in a spinal cord injury and paralysis from her chest downwards. This primary injury led to a cascade of other health issues, as detailed throughout the sources. Here are the key physical health challenges Lavelle faced:
Paralysis from the chest downwards, resulting in the inability to walk again. This was determined to be permanent despite initial hopes.
The immediate aftermath of the accident required multiple operations and blood transfusions, as well as a prolonged stay of several weeks in ICU.
She spent ten months in a nineteen-bed ward in the hospital, during which she experienced numerous complications.
Lavelle suffered from frequent infections, including chest infections and multiple UTIs (urinary tract infections) due to her indwelling catheter. These infections often required multiple courses of antibiotics.
She experienced significant weight loss during her initial recovery.
Due to immobility, Lavelle developed pressure sores, which are a common complication of spinal cord injuries. She was bedbound for several months.
The spinal cord injury caused a loss of her body’s ability to control her bowels and bladder, requiring the use of a catheter. It also affected her ability to control temperature, balance, and blood pressure. Her lack of balance made her wobbly and susceptible to falls from her wheelchair.
Lavelle suffered from reduced lung capacity and experienced several hospitalisations due to pneumonia. Her misaligned spinal vertebrae further affected her breathing, chest expansion, and lung capacity, making it harder to breathe deeply. She also experienced respiratory dysfunction, a major cause of health issues in spinal cord injuries, leading to a reduction in lung and chest wall compliance and an ineffective cough, increasing the effort required for breathing.
She endured constant nerve pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which she described as feeling like “fire, acid, and glass inside my body”. This pain persisted even in areas where she had no other sensation.
As a consequence of immobility and altered bone loading, Lavelle suffered a fracture in her tibia. Spinal cord injury leads to bone loss and an increased risk of fractures, as well as osteoporosis, making her bones weak and fragile.
Due to excessive medication taken over almost ten years, including a prolonged period on a higher than recommended dose of antibiotics, Lavelle experienced significant organ damage. This manifested as onset liver failure with decreased enzymatic functioning, an unusual blood cell profile, and kidney distortion, as well as liver dysfunction later on.
The excessive medication also led to significant hair loss and made her skin fragile.
Lavelle also developed bladder stones, another complication related to her spinal cord injury and catheter use.
These numerous and often interconnected physical health challenges significantly impacted Lavelle’s quality of life and required constant management and adaptation.
*For inspiration, why not pick up a copy of Geraldine’s new book on Amazon and in selected bookstores from next weekend and from our website at www.bookhubpublishing.com
