Woman, 24, stranded in Africa after seriously damaging spine in freak accident

A Staffordshire woman is stuck in a foreign hospital after she seriously damaged her spine in a freak accident. Charline Edwards could not feel her hands or arms after being swept out to sea in the waters around Cape Verde. Her partner, Callum Aston, said it took three hours to get the 24-year-old to a hospital, BirminghamLive[1] has reported.

To get home, the pair will have to shell out GBP40,000 for specialist medical assistance. Talking about the accident, Callum said: "The water was a little choppy but nothing too serious. The flags were green, telling us it was safe to swim.

READ: Dog owner's terror after mauled by 'Dalmatian' in Stoke-on-Trent attack | Staffordshire Police have been called in over the Burslem attack[2] READ: Seething Sandra GBP150 out of pocket after Audi A4 hits massive 'hidden' pothole | Sandra Hilton hit the pothole in Caverswall - now she's complained to Staffordshire County Council[3] "We were less than waist-deep in the water, Charline was lying on her back floating in the water relaxing.

Suddenly a very big wave landed on top of her. "When I eventually stood up myself from the wave, she was nowhere to be seen. She was about 20 yards down into the water, where it had dragged her back out to sea, when I managed to find her."

Callum said he had to swim against the current to drag his injured girlfriend, who does not have travel insurance, back to the shore. "Eventually when I got her to the beach, an elderly couple who had spotted us in the distance tried to help me carry her," he said. "Eventually, after about five minutes, the lifeguards came over but at that time, she couldn't move anything from her neck down. But the lifeguards were trying to drag her by her arms and legs up the beach.

I said: 'You can't do that, she's hurt her back, it's going to cause more damage.' "I was begging for help, asking them to call an ambulance. It took them more than 30 minutes for them to call an ambulance and over two hours for paramedics to arrive on the beach.

"After the two hours the hotel manager went and got a wheelchair for disabled guests and we had to carry the wheelchair off the beach. So from the minute of the accident, it took over three hours while she was lying in excruciating pain, shouting and calling for help. "She had to be wheeled all the way to the other side of the hotel to a main road to get into the ambulance.

We're worried that, if we can't get her home, her injury could become long term because there's no MRI scanner on the island so we can't see how extensive the nerve damage is." The accident happened last Thursday, three days before they were due to fly home. The couple, who have links to Stafford, discovered Charline had suffered a nerve injury in her spine, but will not know the severity until she has an MRI scan in the UK.

Her hospital bills have already hit GBP10,000 with the couple paying more for every day they are stuck on the island, Callum said. Charline has been told she cannot fly home on a commercial plane as she "cannot sit up or stand on her own". The only options are a flight with a stretcher or an air ambulance.

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.[4] Want more court and crime news? Sign up to our court and crime newsletter here[5]

References

1. ^ BirminghamLive (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
2. ^ Dog owner's terror after mauled by 'Dalmatian' in Stoke-on-Trent attack | Staffordshire Police have been called in over the Burslem attack (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
3. ^ Seething Sandra GBP150 out of pocket after Audi A4 hits massive 'hidden' pothole | Sandra Hilton hit the pothole in Caverswall - now she's complained to Staffordshire County Council (www.stokesentinel.co.uk)
4. ^ click here. (www.gofundme.com)
5. ^ Want more court and crime news?

   Sign up to our court and crime newsletter here (data.reachplc.com)