My husband was told he was just suffering ‘from muscle spasms’ – but he may never walk again
A DAD was told he was just suffering from "muscle spasms" but now he may never be able to walk again.
Fit and healthy Glen Urmson, 59, was told he had the worst spinal infection doctors have ever seen after suffering seizures last year that left him wheelchair-bound.
The dad-of-four was rushed to hospital on Christmas Eve, where he has been ever since the shocking diagnosis.
The surveyor from Shaw, Greater Manchester, said he caught a whiff of a "funny smell" before he made "convulsing and collapsed on the floor" after suffering from a brain seizure at work.
He was taken to hospital on November 30 - but it allegedly took paramedics five hours to get him seen because hospitals were so crowded.
Doctors at Fairfield General Hospital carried out tests on Glen - but sent him home as they couldn't pinpoint the cause of the seizure.
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According to his terrified wife Debbie, 58, things only got worse from there.
Before long, the dad was unable to walk from the pain - and Debbie had to drive him to the hospital because of an alleged seven-hour ambulance wait.
His heartbroken family told : "He had really severe back pain. We put it down to him fitting the Christmas lights.
“He went back to A&E. They said he was having muscle spasms from falling during the seizure - they discharged him with codeine and diazepam.
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“They wheelchaired him out to my mum and didn’t run any further tests, despite him being in absolute agony, they dismissed it. This was all in the space of a few days.”
But things got even worse, and he collapsed again on Christmas Eve - forcing the family to ring 999.
Debbie added: "I had to beg the ambulance service to take him to hospital, he was getting confused, saying things that didn’t add up. He couldn’t even have a proper conversation because he was screaming in pain
“Had our mum not pleaded with paramedics to take him to hospital, he would likely have died at home over Christmas. The surgeon said they had never seen a spinal infection so bad.”
Glen was admitted to a ward one month after his first seizure and he ended up missing the first Christmas with his new grandchildren.
And on December 28, an MRI scan revealed a severe spinal infection, featuring abscesses that had burst and were compressing on Glen’s spinal cord.
Surgery revealed that the infection has "disintegrated the discs in his back" leaving him in a wheelchair.
His family added: “Had our mum not pleaded with paramedics to take him to hospital, he would likely have died at home over Christmas. The surgeon said they had never seen a spinal infection so bad.”
Debbie is now fearing the worst as Glen enters his fifth month in a hospital bed unable to walk.
DAD'S BATTLE
Dr Chris Brookes, Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Chief Executive for Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are sorry to hear of Mr Urmson’s circumstances, including the challenges surrounding his admission and diagnosis.
"Unfortunately, both Covid-19 and winter-related system pressures across all of our emergency departments at the time meant that our colleagues at NWAS experienced challenges in transferring Mr Urmson successfully to our care.
"Following his admission, ongoing challenges to our staffing levels then resulted in his MRI scan being delayed.
"We acknowledge that these experiences have sadly resulted in Mr Urmson and his family feeling let down, and we are deeply sorry for that.
"Patient safety and high standards of care are our priority and I would encourage Mr Urmson and his family to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service so that we can hear in more detail the issues surrounding his care.
"We will then follow up with them directly, to demonstrate our commitment to understanding individuals’ experiences to help us learn and improve.
"We send Mr Urmson our best wishes for a full recovery.”
A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson added: “We would like to offer Mr Urmson and his family our best wishes.
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"We hope he makes a full and swift recovery and that they have success in their fundraising efforts.
"If they would like us to look into their concerns with the ambulance response further, we invite them to contact our patient safety team, and we can share our findings with them.”
