Hospital wedding for bride paralysed at hen party

A couple held their wedding at a hospital after an attempted "party trick" at the hen do led to the bride being paralysed.

Craig Bolton and Carla Horton were due to get married on 30 May at St Chad's church in Coseley, close to their home in Dudley.

But at her hen weekend five weeks before, 44-year-old Carla "tried to do a stunt" resulting in her fracturing the top of her neck and being paralysed from the chest down.

After Carla spent five weeks at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, the couple decided instead of postponing their wedding, they would get married in an intimate ceremony at the hospital's chapel.

Carla and her friends were getting ready to go out for the evening in Skegness when she decided to attempt the trick - which she did not detail - but was knocked unconscious for a moment.

When she regained consciousness, she realised she could not move.

"I made a silly misjudgement on my hen do and tried to do a stunt which I think I was just too old to do, and it resulted in me fracturing the top of my neck and being paralysed from the chest down," she said.

Her friends called an ambulance and she was subsequently taken to Skegness and district general hospital before being moved to Pilgrim Hospital Boston for scans to assess the damage.

She was then transferred to the Queen's Medical Centre for spinal surgery.

"My first thought when this happened was to say to Craig 'if you want to walk away you can' and I would understand.

"I think when something like this happens to someone you don't want to put them through the possibility that you might never walk again."

But Craig, who says his "world caved in" when he found out from his sister-in-law what had happened, made a three-hour round trip from Dudley to Nottingham to be with his fiancee every day.

"When I come in every day and see the fight in her, I do fall in love more each day," he said.

"You do find your soulmate at some point and when you do, you know. And I've found mine."

After five weeks of Carla being in hospital, she decided she could not wait any longer to marry Craig.

"I don't want to wait 18 months or two years until I am possibly walking again, or possibly not. I cannot wait that long."

The pair stuck to their original date, with the support of Nottingham University Hospitals Charity which helped with the arrangements for the big day, including a food, decorations and even a hairdresser for the bride.

They believed the speed of Carla's care was a key factor in the lucky position she was in to get the "best chance of recovery".

Craig said: "It was all within a 20-hour window which, to be quite honest is probably the main reason why Carla is in the condition she is in now and able to fight."

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust's spinal cord injury lead Michelle Elmsley said: "It's been an honour to be part of Carla's journey.

"It is a rare opportunity to be part of something special for acute patients under our care, and being able to go 'beyond the norm' has made me extremely proud to be part of team NUH."

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