David Bateman felt imprisoned at home after paralysis
Says a lack of support after cancer left him paralysed from the chest down in March 2023 made him feel trapped at home. He now works with East Suffolk and…
David Bateman said he felt imprisoned in his home after cancer left him paralysed from the chest down in March 2023, in Halstead, Essex. His experience of struggling to manage without specialist spinal support has since helped prompt changes in care at the hospital where he was treated.
Bateman, a father of two, now works with East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) and the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) to improve support for other patients. His cancer is now described as stable.
The 53-year-old was diagnosed in 2017 with a tumour growing inside his spinal cord, after months of muscle pain and numbness. During hospital treatment in March 2023, he woke one morning paralysed from the chest down.
“I called for a nurse and I said, 'Can you help get these blankets off [my legs]?' and she said, 'You haven't got any blankets on',” Bateman said.
“That's one of those points where you think the unimaginable has happened.”
How did Bateman find support for his spinal injury?
Bateman spent three weeks in hospital and received a care package, but was not referred to a specialist spinal unit. He said the focus remained heavily on treating his rare cancer, leaving him unsure how to cope with the effects of paralysis.
“I was just left to my own devices,” he said. Doctors had given him a life expectancy of 12 months.
Back at home, his days were divided between bed and a chair. He avoided going out because he feared bowel accidents, describing the result as feeling imprisoned in his own home.
He and his wife, Jennie, later watched a documentary called The Boy Who Lived and learned that specialist spinal units existed. Bateman then began receiving help from the SIA, which he credited with changing his life.
“To find them was just like [being] in a black room and you've just had these big doors opened up and all the light is shining in,” he said.
Hospital teams are changing their approach
Morven Hurding, ESNEFT's Macmillan lead cancer nurse, said Bateman's account had influenced how care teams support patients. She acknowledged that concentrating on his cancer treatment may have meant his spinal injury received less attention.
“We've learned a great deal about what's available outside of our immediate hospital services,” Hurding said. Hospital teams have been made aware of the SIA and encouraged to avoid working in silos.
That change matters to patients who need help living with a spinal injury as well as treatment for the illness that caused it. Bateman's experience shows how a care package alone did not connect him to specialist spinal support; the charity later helped him find it. He now works with the trust and the SIA to help other patients facing similar circumstances.
Hurding said patient experience was central to improving care. “It's so important to hear from our patients, our patient experience is absolutely key to making any improvements,” she said.
An SIA spokesperson described access to support for people with spinal cord injuries as a “postcode lottery”, saying it affected their ability to get help needed to live a fulfilled life.
