A nursing student was forced to give up her dream career after losing control on an inflatable slide and fracturing her back before experiencing daily seizures , which she described as being like “something off The Exorcist”. Kerry Woodhouse, 45, from Telford , “landed on a hard floor” coming off a slide in June 2016. She later started having seizures and in February 2017, became a full-time wheelchair user.
In the same month she was also diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, a condition affecting how the brain processes and sends information throughout the body, which was causing the seizures. At this point she felt she was “just existing, not living,” especially as she had to give up her nursing career and independence. The mother of two to Tia, 18, and Chloe, 26, moved into an accessible home in November 2020, which she described as her “turning point” as it enabled her to regain some independence and improve her mental health.
By September 2022, she resumed working, finding new purpose in selling multi-use cookers to other disabled people, and by November 2023, she was driving again. She has not had a seizure since 2023 but still uses a wheelchair – Kerry can stand up, but it is her “goal” to one day fully walk again. Kerry told PA Real Life: “My whole body would contort, my jaw would stretch as if it was going to snap, my legs and arms would flip up.
“My feet would twist inwards, I completely flipped over. “They were quite violent, .