A single mother-of-two has lost her job and will be forced to undergo six months of rehabilitation after a spinal fracture became infected while on a girls’ trip.
Kylie Wanschers, 49, stepped out onto a wet hotel balcony to get a towel and fell onto her back while on holiday with a friend in March.
Doctors back home at Armidale, in NSW‘s Northern Tablelands, suspected she had cracked ribs, but Ms Wanschers knew it was much worse.
She got a CT scan to check for further injuries but couldn’t get a follow-up appointment for three weeks, during which her condition rapidly deteriorated.
Her friend, Jodie Hayden, said the mother was experiencing spasms around her spine and ‘screaming in pain’.
She was later diagnosed with two fractured vertebrae, T9 and T10, that led to an infection which was aggressively attacking her spinal cord.
By the time she was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, Ms Wanschers couldn’t feel or move either of her legs.
While surgery was completed to have a steel rod added to her spine, she is looking at six-months of rehabilitation which has cost her her job.
Single mother-of-two, Kylie Wanschers (left), is learning to walk again after a fall on a balcony led to two fractured vertebrae and an infection that aggressively attacked her spinal column
Ms Hayden said her friend has been left with a lifelong injury and that her right leg ‘won’t ever be the same again’.
Ms Wanschers was transported to Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital and will be undergoing her rehabilitation in the north-west suburb of Ryde.
Ms Hayden has taken up the role of looking after her friend’s two children while Ms Wanschers learns how to walk again.
The recovery process will last as long as October – which will have meant she have been away from her two children for six months.
Ms Wanscher’s home will also have to undergo massive renovations, including ‘bathroom modifications, ramps rails’.
Ms Hayden said her friend will need to pay for a ‘lifetime of medical bills’.
By the time she was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, Ms Wanschers couldn’t feel or move either of her legs
‘(Ms Wanschers is) a very selfless person, always looking at other people and thinking their stories are worse,’ she told 7News.
‘She doesn’t like people doing anything for her, she’s very independent.
‘Things are pretty tough (but) she’s determined.’
Ms Hayden launched a GoFundMe to help her friend pay for renovations, medical bills and support her transition back into life back home.
The fundraiser has gained over $5,000 since it was launched in late July.
