GRIMES of PASSION
EACH YEAR about 2,500 people in the UK sustain a spinal cord injury – if that’s where you live, your risk is one in 27,000. In 2006, Kylie Grimes, from Farnham in Surrey, joined those at the sharp end of that statistic.
She was 18 and at a late-night party at a friend’s house. The friend’s parents were away. She dived into a swimming pool and her head hit the bottom, breaking her neck. As a keen horse rider who had seen some nasty accidents, she knew about the importance of keeping her head still.
But tragically, staff at Frimley Park
Hospital, where she was rushed for treatment, took her for a drunken teenager making a fuss. When two male staff members grabbed her to force her to sit up, she fell off the bed, blacking out as she hit the floor.
About eight hours after the accident, a consultant confirmed the seriousness of her injury and apologised for her treatment. When she had arrived at hospital, she could wiggle her toes, and had feeling in her left leg and her
