Watch shocking moment West Yorkshire nurse breaks neck doing somersault - only for doctors to 'send her home'
This is the moment a nurse fractured her spine by landing on her head while doing a somersault - only for docs to 'send her home'.
Brooke Bowen had attended an adult gymnastic class with her friend on April 22 this year, but when the 21-year-old went to perform a trick into the foam pit - which she says she had done 100 times before - she landed on her head hitting the hard floor below.
Horrifying footage shows Brooke performing a double back somersault at speed - but she lands upside down on her head.
Immediately, the paediatric nurse from Snowhill, Wakefield, said she felt excruciating shooting pains in her neck and back and took some painkillers.
When the pain got worse overnight she went to the A&E department at Pinderfields Hospital to get checked out.
But she says that despite showing staff the video and explaining how severe her pain was, she was told it wasn't 'traumatic enough' to require an x-ray.
Even after she 'fought' for an x-ray, she says she was told everything was fine and was sent home.
It was only when she reached out for a private medical scan through her insurance that she discovered she had fractured her spine in two places on June 20.
And when she woke up two days later with numbness and the feeling of pins and needles in her legs, she was admitted to hospital for 10 days.
Now back at home, Brooke struggles to walk and claims she is at risk of becoming paralysed in the next couple of years due to the injury.
She now believes that if the hospital hadn't dismissed her pain in April, she may not be facing such severe long-term effects from her injury.
Brooke said: "I've done this trick at least 100 times and it was a trick I was confident with.
"I got upside down and I knew I wasn't going to make it round and fell down on my head.
"I went into the foam pit but I hit the bottom of it, which is solid.
"It was the worst pain in the world. It was a stabbing pain in my neck and my back.
"At the hospital, they said they didn't think they should do an x-ray or a scan as it wasn't a traumatic enough injury even though I showed them the video.
"I'm a nurse so I told them I couldn't go to work in this kind of pain. In the end they ended up doing an x-ray as I fought for it but they said it was fine and they sent me home."
Brooke said she spent two months going back and forth to her GP for pain medication.
"Later I found out I had two fractures in my spine in my C3 and C4 as I was told this after going for a private scan.
"They said they were stable fractures but if I started to get these certain symptoms I needed to get medical attention.
"I just thought the worst and I thought I was going to be paralysed.
"Since then I have had left sided weakness in my arm and leg and my legs hardly got any power."
Brooke is now having to attend hydrotherapy sessions for six weeks and has to use a wheelchair to leave the house.
Brooke said: "They are still saying the fractures will just heal.
"I've now also been told I have a spinal cord injury in my C5 and C6 as I have bruising on my spinal cord that's compressing.
"I feel like I wasn't initially listened too.
"The consultant said I could lose all my ability in my legs or I could get it all back and just need to learn to live my life like this. It's scary to think that one day I could be paralysed.
"As it's been so long, I think my injury is worse now as it didn't get treated initially. I always think that if I was treated at the start I wouldn't be in this position now."
Dr Mark Freeman, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, said: "We pride ourselves on providing the best possible care to our patients and we are sorry to hear that Brooke is not happy with the care provided to her on this occasion.
"If Brooke would like to contact the Trust we would be happy to meet with her and discuss this care in more detail."