More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A 22-year-old woman says she has been robbed of a normal life by a debilitating condition that has forced her to rely on using an electric wheelchair.
Hannah Wood, from Herne Bay, has lived with the chronic, stabbing pains in her groin, back, ribs, and leg for the last decade.
She takes a range of prescribed medication - which includes a number of morphine-based drugs - every day.
As a result, she regularly sleeps about 18 hours a day and is unable to hold down a job.
“I get episodes where the pain jumps up to a high level,” she said.
“It’s like I’m being stabbed. It’s not a burning pain; it’s a sharp, shooting pain.
“I use a power chair most of the time. When I put pressure onto my right foot it kicks off the pain.
"Even when we go out in the car, any kind of bump or vibration kicks it off.”
Hannah says the problem started after she had an appendectomy at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford at the age of 12.
“When I woke up from the operation it felt like there was a shard of glass in my stomach – it was sharp,” she says.
“It’s slowly got worse over the years.
“The doctors told me 'you’re healing, you’re healing' - but they said that for two years.
“I saw a private doctor who said it sounds like it’s a cut nerve from the appendectomy.
"Another told me if I’d come when I was 12 he would have been able to do something, but now it’s irreversible.”
But East Kent Hospitals insists it has not received any recent correspondence from Hannah or her family about the procedure.
A spokesman for the organisation said: “We are sorry to hear that Hannah is still experiencing pain.
“We cannot discuss individual patients but if anyone has concerns about their treatment or is unhappy about any aspect of their care we would encourage them to contact our patient experience team so we can investigate their concern.”
Following the operation, Hannah says she was inhibited at school by the pain, which also truncated her studies at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Hannah has launched an appeal to raise £20,000 for an operation which would see an electrical device attached to her spine.
