An author who suddenly became paralysed from the waist down says it allowed her to find a love of writing.

Ruth Lowry was a hairdresser for 33 years until a holiday in Cyprus turned into a nightmare.

In September 2016, the mum-of-three had just celebrated her 50th birthday and was on the trip with husband Sean.

She said: “We were laying on a sunbed one minute and the next I was in this awful hospital. It was just horrendous.”

The Gravesend resident had been experiencing headaches as well as neck and back pain for several months before the flight.

After seeing several doctors, it was all put down to the nature of her job.

“I had lots of hydrocortisone injections in the shoulder,” she added.

“The last time I went to the GP he said ‘go on holiday, relax and when you come back perhaps we’ll do an MRI’. It was just too late.”

Ruth was relaxing on the final day of her holiday when the discomfort in her neck became unbearable.

“I kept thinking maybe someone could massage it, that it was a trapped nerve,” she explained.

“We went to the hotel reception and were told the nearest hospital was about 45 minutes away.

“As Sean was trying to organise something on the desk, I said to him ‘I don’t feel right’.

“I collapsed, but with that came an awful, horrendous pain with spasms. I was in and out of consciousness.

“They called an ambulance and we were whisked away. It was touch and go, it really was.”

The 57-year-old was admitted to a Cypriot hospital and after an MRI scan it was revealed a disc in her neck had crumbled away.

Ruth also quickly discovered she couldn’t feel her body from the waist down and would need extensive spinal surgery.

“I had no feeling in my tummy region at all,” she added.

“The only way to describe it was that my legs felt like a porcelain sink – they were rock hard.

“They likened what happened to my spine as if I’d been thrown through a car window at a high speed.”

With the couple’s holiday insurance, the pair immediately flew back to the UK on a private plane with a doctor and nurse on board.

Ruth was diagnosed with spinal stenosis – a condition where the space around the spinal cord narrows and compresses a section of nerve tissue.

Surgery took place at King’s College Hospital in London and lasted four hours.

For the next two months, Ruth stayed at the Frank Cooksey Rehabilitation Unit in Orpington hospital and regained her strength through daily physiotherapy.

She had been a hairdresser since she was 16 and worked at Studio 6 in Harmer Street and Images in Perry Street, Northfleet. Later on, she ran her own salon from home.

After the incident on the Mediterranean island, Ruth was told she might not regain feeling from the waist down ever again.

She also wouldn’t be able to go back to a manual job.

“To know that I would never be able to do that role in my life again was incredibly difficult,” she explained.

“I’m sure in the back of my mind, I was thinking maybe in five years I’ll call it a day.

“To not be able to make that decision for yourself and have it taken away is a big thing.”

Unable to return to her previous job, Ruth realised she would have to find another passion in life.

During her extensive recovery, she turned to writing.

She has since released two novels, The Empty Cradle and You Only Love Twice. Her latest book, called Last Betrayal, is out now.

It details the life of Johnny Connors, who initially flees his home in Ireland due to a terrible tragedy on his 15th birthday.

He finds an unequivocal love with a beautiful girl while managing a gentlemen’s drinking club in Liverpool, as well as the ramifications that follow.

Ruth still has to take medication for neuropathic pain as a result of the incident but can now walk.

Despite her issues, she says her ambition is to become “the next J.K Rowling” and has already started writing her fourth book.