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Arbroath mum’s dream to dance on wedding day after cycling accident left her paralysed

Natalie Burgess with her fiancé James Campbell and daughter Lucy-Rose Campbell.
Natalie Burgess with her fiancé James Campbell and daughter Lucy-Rose Campbell. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

An Arbroath mum is dreaming of the chance to dance on her wedding day after a cycling accident left her paralysed from the waist down.

Natalie Burgess is fundraising for a new wheelchair to allow her to dance with her fiancé, James Campbell, on their special day later this year.

The 29-year-old from Arbroath was left unconscious when she was knocked off her bike by an automatic barrier at a caravan park in November 2017.

She was taken to hospital by ambulance after the accident but was discharged only a few hours later.

But two months later Natalie woke up one morning paralysed from the waist down.

Natalie Burgess
Natalie, 29, woke up two month after the accident unable to move her legs. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

Natalie said: “The caravan park had an automatic barrier and (as) the barrier was coming down and I went under it and it just kept coming down and hit me on the head and knocked me straight off my bike.

“I was only in hospital for a few hours after the accident itself.

“But just two months later I woke up one day and couldn’t move my legs.”

Natalie had suffered brain damage as a result of the accident and developed Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a condition which causes difficulty with the functions of the nervous system.

Symptoms include paralysis, seizures and muscle weakness/deterioration.

‘I was absolutely terrified’

Natalie said: “Because it’s FND, it was a delayed reaction from the bump on the head  so I just woke up one day and I couldn’t move my legs and then the following day I couldn’t move my left hand and it has been like that ever since.

Being a very active person, Natalie said the condition “turned her life upside down”.

She said: “I had previously run half marathons and I did loads of cycling with my parents.

“It was the scariest thing ever, I didn’t know what to do .

“I couldn’t move, I couldn’t stand.

“I was just absolutely terrified, we weren’t prepared at all.”

Couple’s dream to dance together on wedding day

Over the next month, Natalie went through vigorous tests and physiotherapy to try to walk again but there was nothing doctors could do.

She was forced to give up work and move out of her family home.

But she made the best of things, getting engaged to James in 2018 and six months ago gave birth to her first child, Lucy-Rose.

Natalie and James are set to get married in September 2023
Natalie and James are set to get married in September 2023. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

For the last five years, Natalie has found it difficult to move independently in the wheelchair she was provided by the NHS.

She is now fundraising for a new, custom-fitted, wheelchair that is lighter and better- adapted.

This will allow her to dance unaccompanied with James on their wedding day, at the Park Hotel in Montrose in September.

Natalie said: “With the chair I’ve got, I wouldn’t be able to push it around myself so it wouldn’t just be me and James on the dancefloor, we would need someone else to help us, which isn’t very nice.

“I think as a wee girl you always want to get married.

“It’s not the day I dreamed of anyway because I’m in the chair but to be able to dance would be all my wishes come true.”

Natalie and James with Lucy-Rose
Natalie and James with Lucy-Rose. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

“I’m so lucky to have James – a lot of guys would have 100% done a runner by now but he stuck by me the whole time.”

Natalie said the new chair would also help her care for her daughter but highlighted that her disability has not stopped her from having the family she always wanted.

She said: “My baby was probably the best thing to happen since my accident – it is hard, but I think I’ve proven that you can still have a family even after a diagnosis.”

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