Woman 'can walk again' after 'fantastic' surgery at Leeds General Infirmary to remove nine-year spinal tumour
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00:00Obviously I've lost the use of my legs at the moment. I have virtually no upper arm movement and when I spoke to Mr Pally he did say that obviously everything will go if I don't have it.
00:13If I have the surgery and it's successful, hopefully I will keep whatever movement I've still got in my arms and slight possibility of some improvement but I don't know if there's much hope for that or not.
00:28I don't think anybody really knows until after it happens.
00:32Quality of life, I don't really have one. I'm just sat at home in the living room.
00:38Adaptions at home I have a hospital bed and a hoist and my husband looks after me full time.
00:44Obviously I don't get out at all. The only times I've been out this year have been these hospital visits.
00:50The only people I see are when someone visits. I wouldn't call it a quality of life, no.
00:58I'm feeling terrified about the operation. Everything really, what could go wrong?
01:06I am feeling much more positive.
01:09I was told at the start of the operation that I had very little movement when they put the monitors on me.
01:15We're taking the actual tumour out. I could immediately move my hands better, my legs better and they do feel that hopefully I will get movement back.
01:24So I do feel better. I know it's going to be a very long haul. I'm glad I went through with it.
01:29I wish I'd done it earlier but hindsight, you know, you don't know what to do with things like that but yes, I'm glad I did it.
01:37I don't regret not doing it immediately because I was still very fit and healthy and if it had gone wrong I would have lost so much.
01:45But maybe four or five, round about the time of the pandemic, I was going to have it done and then the world ended.
01:51So that stopped the idea because I was on a wheelchair, by then I was using a stick.
01:55And sort of straight after the pandemic I thought about it for a bit and then I got scared again.
02:01My legs got worse and worse and then earlier this year when Mr Powell phoned me and said, you know, your hands are going as well as you really need.
02:08And I said, well, I've not more to lose now.
02:11But yes, I do wish I would have gone for it maybe a couple of years earlier than I had.
02:18Maybe not years and years but certainly three, four years, definitely.
02:22Obviously, as you saw last week, that's as high as I could go with my hand and now I can touch my head.
02:27And this hand was practically dead and I can touch my head with that.
02:30And I opened a packet of crisps yesterday, which to me was a miracle.