Jane Sargeant Case Study
“I’m me again. I’m very happy and life is pretty good!”
Jane Sargeant was born with Spina Bifida Occulta – a very mild form of Spina Bifida. Despite this, she was always fully mobile, until an MRI scan at 19 confirmed that her spinal cord was tethered down at the base of her spine by a Lipoma (lump of fat). This is very common in Spina Bifida Occulta. Because of this, Jane started to get numbness and tingling in her right leg, which worsened as she got older. In May 2012, she decided to have an operation to un-tether her Spinal Cord in the hope it would prevent her symptoms from worsening. The operation was successful; it un-tethered 95% of her spinal cord. However, due to the swelling and complexity of the operation, she was unable to move her legs and feet when she woke up.
“My legs are improving but it’s a slow progress. I can no walk short distances with a rollator, but mainly around the house now as the effort for any longer distance is too great”
Towards the end of 2017, everything seems to fall into place for Jane, and she was accepting her new body and how her life had changed. She had finally felt peace with herself, and realised that life wasn’t about walking it, it was about cracking on with it.
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