Walney woman not expected to survive accident celebrates wedding anniversary

Those are the words of Martin Wilson who was told by doctors his wife would not make it through the night after falling down the loft stairs at their home on Walney.

Sheila, 64, was found 'curled up like a baby' on the floor and placed into a coma.

Mr Wilson, 64, was told by a consultant it would be an 'absolute miracle' if she pulled through.

The family were told she may not wake up and if she did she would likely be in a vegetative state - however, she started to show signs of improvement.

And now, a year on, the couple have celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and renewed their vows.

RENEWAL: Martin and Sheila at their vow renewal

“We all said our prayers for her," said Mr Wilson. "Some say miracles don’t happen, they do, I can assure you they do."

It is believed Mrs Wilson missed a step on the loft stairs while carrying a box of ornaments.

Mr Wilson described hearing an 'almighty bang' and rushed to help.

He said: “She was just blowing bubbles and not responsive at all and I thought this isn’t right and phoned for the ambulance and they were here within minutes.”

A first responder, North West Ambulance Service, and the Great North Air Ambulance Service attended the incident on October 1, 2020.

Mr Wilson said: “I heard the helicopter coming through, it was so quick. No sooner had the ambulance turned up when the helicopter was here.

“They explained it was serious and they said she had a head injury and had to sedate her and I helped carry her downstairs.”

Mrs Wilson was put into a medically induced coma and was airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital.

Mr Wilson said: “The consultant saw me in the hospital and told me it was very bad, she’d broken her pelvis and there’s two bleeds on her brain. One was right in the centre of the brain which is the worst possible place to have one and nothing can be done.

“It looked like there was no brain activity at all and they said to inform the rest of the family that we don’t think she’s going to make it through the night. If she pulls through it’s an absolute miracle.”

Mrs Wilson was put on a life-support machine. Mr Wilson would ring his wife and the phone would be held to her ear.

“I played The Fields of Athenry, which is the song we danced to on our wedding,” he added.

Mrs Wilson returned home on December 5.

“She’s getting back to normal but it’s going to be a lot longer to get there, she’s probably 75-80% there,” said Mr Wilson.

The couple were meant to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in 2020 but the party was delayed due to Covid. On August 28 the couple renewed their vows.

WEDDING: Martin and Sheila Wilson at their wedding

Mr Wilson said: “We called it 25 years plus one. It was written on the cake.

“Everybody was there and we had such a lovely day all thanks to everybody who helped. If it wasn’t for the ambulance, first responders, GNAAS and surgeons she wouldn’t be here.”