'I nearly died from morning yawn - it was so forceful it broke my neck'

A mum almost died when her early morning yawn was so powerful it shattered her neck.

Hayley Black woke up to make her newborn baby Amelia her bottle but she had no idea the danger that was seconds away. As she got ready to leave her bed, like most people she instinctively stretched and let out a big yawn - but the 36-year-old instantly felt an 'electric shock sensation' shoot through her body and her arm became stuck in the air.

She told her husband Ian, 39, to call an ambulance as she knew there was "something dreadfully wrong" and she was soon whisked to hospital in excruciating pain. Despite doctors initially not believing what had caused the situation because nothing showed up in her scans, Hayley was told the C6 and C7 bones in her neck had shot forwards into her spine because of the strength of her yawn.

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She was given a 50/50 chance of being able to walk again but, but thankfully for the family her emergency surgery was successful. Taking to TikTok, the mum-of-two shared video footage explaining her experience captioned 'I broke my neck yawning', which now has more than 1,000 views.

Now the former emergency call handler is on medication for permanent nerve damage, which leaves her unable to work and she says is so scarred from the experience in May 2016 she tries to 'stifle' any yawns. Hayley who lives in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, said: "Most people start their day with a big yawn and you'd never expect it to end up the way it did.

"They saw yawns are contagious and I woke up at 5am and I looked over and saw my daughter yawning. Instinctively I yawned and I stretched to get up and make her a bottle. I felt this immediate electric shock sensation go through half my body and I jumped up in shock.

"My arm got stuck in the air and I was having these electric spark sensations. It was like having a seizure down half of my body. I knew instantly something was dreadfully wrong. I said to my husband 'you need to call an ambulance; something's happened to my neck'.

"He was like 'it's 5am you've not done anything, you're fine'. I said 'something's seriously wrong' and he made the baby's bottle and rang an ambulance. I remember the journey to the hospital being excruciatingly painful and they had me in head blocks."

In hospital, Hayley was given pain medication and while scans didn't initially reveal her injury she was eventually told she had broken the C6 and C7 disc in her neck when she yawned. Thankfully emergency surgery meant the mum would be able to walk again.

Hayley said: "I was screaming in pain all night and I had the gas and air. I was trying to hit myself in the head to try to knock myself out because I was in so much pain. Nobody was listening to me and I was like 'something is seriously wrong'. The nurses were getting frustrated with me and said 'there's nothing on the scans, you're okay'.

"But then the doctors did some tests and the surgeon said 'this is worse than what we thought'. I was completely paralysed down my right-hand side. It was crazy. The C6 and C7 had shot forwards into my spine when I yawned [due to] the force of the yawn. They said it was such a freak incident.

"My mum told me [the doctor] said 'it's a 50/50 whether she's going to walk and potentially survive. I got told by another doctor at a later date it was because my oxygen levels were so low. I remember my mum being there while they put me to sleep. I woke up and they'd restored all functions which was amazing. I'm so lucky but I'm still really traumatised."

The mum had to re-learn how to walk and was in a wheelchair for months and has been left with a tracheal scar from where doctors removed the discs in her neck. She now takes daily medication to manage her permanent nerve damage and has developed fibromyalgia, a long-term condition causing chronic pain.

Hayley said: "The recovery was a long one physically and emotionally. It took me a long time to get my head round it. My husband became almost essentially a single parent and my carer overnight. It was really hard and we became homeless over it.

"I'm still struggling from the nerve damage today. I often get pains going down my arms, shooting down my back and up into my neck and my head. If I don't take the medication then every time I take a step I get electrical shocks all up my spine and through into my head.

"I can't yawn without panic and any yawn I try to stifle - it still affects me to this day. I keep trying to go back to work and I end up having so much time off sick that I end up losing the job or walking away. I can't go and do exercise classes or run around with the children.

"I thank [the surgeons] everyday with the fact I'm here to be with my children and do the things that I can do. The fact I'm not in [a wheelchair] is a miracle and I'm eternally grateful." The parent now hopes to spread awareness about hidden disabilities and urges people to 'advocate for yourself'.