Video shows woman who lived lying down to avoid being internally decapitated walking for the first time

A video shows a disabled woman who lived lying down to avoid being internally decapitated walking for the first time after undergoing surgery. In the footage, Melanie Hartshorn can be seen standing up and taking several steps forward with her team of physios at North Tyneside Hospital.

The 34-year-old has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which caused her skull to dislocate from her spine. Melanie lived with a halo brace 24 hours a day to keep her in a fixed position to stop her suffering violent seizures which risked her being internally decapitated.

She was just weeks from death before she became the first patient in the world to undergo surgery in October 2022 to have her neck and spine fused together through her mouth. After the surgery, performed by Dr Vicenç Gilete in Barcelona, Melanie spent months in hospital and had a second operation in February 2023 before flying home to the UK.

Just over a year later, Melanie, from Cramlington, Northumberland, has taken her first steps.

She said: “It was a very wonderful and weird feeling to stand up on my own for the first time. I could only shuffle a few steps but I have to teach my legs, feet and ankles how to walk... I still wear my back brace but I’ve come this far I’m not going to stop. I want my life back.”

Melanie has raised £151,000 on her GoFundMe page so far, but needs a total of £165,000 to cover her medical bills.