Happy endings: life after being in a Guardian Experience ...

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Happy endings: life after being in a Guardian Experience – ‘It restored my faith in humanity’ The Guardian

The first time I interviewed Vanessa Hilton for the Experience column I Have To Spend My Life Lying Horizontally, there was a flatness to her tone, a matter-of-factness that reflected her forced acceptance of her situation. Hilton has now spent more than a decade battling the side-effects of a spinal fluid leak, which results in low spinal pressure and sees her unsupported brain sink into her skull. It triggers a litany of symptoms including pain, double Vision, dizziness and tinnitus. A cure has yet to be found.

As a result, she has adapted her entire life to the one position where she finds some relief: lying down. What she dreamed of, however, as her days on the sofa turned to months, then years, was a recumbent Tricycle. With adaptations, an Ice Adventure HD trike would allow her to resume her cycling hobby from a semi-reclined position and give her a level of freedom she lost long ago.

After her story was published, donations to her GoFundMe flooded in, along with messages of support and encouragement from readers. Hilton surpassed her target of £7,500 – the cost of the bike they had already committed to with a £2,000 deposit – and reached more than £9,000. The additional funds have been donated to a disabled cycling charity.

“I was blown away, and so humbled by ...

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