‘It’s like a nightmare’: Woman finds herself paralyzed after experiencing severe back pain

GLENDALE, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) - An Arizona mother says she is learning how to walk again after experiencing severe back pain.

Stephanie Van Emst loves spending time with her three children. They hang out, watch movies and enjoy life. However, everything has suddenly changed.

“I think myself and my kids are still in shock,” Van Emst said. “They don’t quite get it. I don’t even get it. It’s like a nightmare. Every day, I wake up and ask if this is real.”

Last month, the single mother of three went to the hospital with severe back pain. Hours later, she found herself paralyzed and needing emergency surgery for an abscess on her spine.

Van Emst is currently in a wheelchair and is being told she may never walk again.

“My littlest, she’s nine, doesn’t get it,” said Van Emst. “She’s still talking like we’re going to go trick-or-treating and all this stuff.”

The 39-year-old has spent the past few weeks at the PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Surprise. She has gone through extensive physical therapy to build her strength and balance.

Erica Russell, a director at the hospital, said the key for patients like Van Emst is to stay positive and keep pushing to get better.

“We all take for granted the abilities we just do automatically in a day, getting out of bed, being able to walk,” she said. “Being in situations like this, where all of that is taken away from you, you are completely out of control of your entire life is a calamity.”

But learning to walk again isn’t the only thing Van Emst is worried about. She wonders if she can work to support her kids and how she’ll take care of them.

There are also concerns about medical costs, a home nurse and the ongoing therapy she’ll need. Friends and family have set up a GoFundMe account to help.

“I have to be there for my kids no matter what, but it’s hard to grasp that I’m going to be like this,” Van Emst said. “I think I will walk again, hopefully. I have a hard time believing this is how it will go.”

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