Mother-of-two left with a broken neck after huge YAWN: ‘I had a 50/50 chance of survival’

A woman was left with a broken neck after taking a huge ‘forceful’ yawn—it left her fighting for her life, and triggered a chain of events that left her family homeless.

Mother-of-two Hayley Black, 36, a former emergency call handler from Milton Keynes shared the frightening ordeal, which happened in 2016, on TikTok.

Mrs Black explained that she ‘instinctively’ yawned and stretched after watching her newborn baby, Amelia, do the same as she waited for her bottle—but after experiencing ‘excruciating pain’, she instantly realised something was wrong. 

She said: ‘Most people start their day with a big yawn and you’d never expect it to end up the way it did.

‘They saw yawns are contagious and I woke up at 5am and I looked over and saw my daughter yawning. Instinctively I yawned and I stretched to get up and make her a bottle.

‘I felt this immediate electric shock sensation go through half my body and I jumped up in shock.’ 

‘My arm got stuck in the air and I was having these electric spark sensations. It was like having a seizure down half of my body. I knew instantly something was dreadfully wrong.’

Panic setting in, asked her husband, Ian, 39, to call an ambulance—but he thought she was just panicking for nothing. 

Mrs Black added: ‘I said to my husband “you need to call an ambulance; something’s happened to my neck”. 

‘He was like “it’s 5am you’ve not done anything, you’re fine”. I said “something’s seriously wrong” and he made the baby’s bottle and rang an ambulance.

‘I remember the journey to the hospital being excruciatingly painful and they had me in head blocks.’

Once at hospital, scans didn’t reveal anything of concern, leaving medical staff baffled by Mrs Black’s ongoing symptoms. 

She said: ‘I was screaming in pain all night and I had the gas and air. I was trying to hit myself in the head to try to knock myself out because I was in so much pain.

‘Nobody was listening to me and I was like “something is seriously wrong”. The nurses were getting frustrated with me and said “there’s nothing on the scans, you’re okay”.

‘[But then] the doctors did some tests and the surgeon said “this is worse than what we thought”. I was completely paralysed down my right-hand side.

‘It was crazy. The C6 and C7 had shot forwards into my spine when I yawned [due to] the force of the yawn. They said it was such a freak incident.’ 

There are seven cervical vertebrae at the top of the spine which support the skull and connect it with the rest of the body. The vertebrae which Mrs Black had dislodged are associated with the nerves needed for the movement of the upper limbs. 

After watching her be anaesthetised, Mrs Black’s mother was given the heartbreaking news that there was a 50/50 chance that her daughter wouldn’t survive the emergency surgery, and if she did come round from the delicate procedure, the same odds were given for if she would ever walk again. 

A doctor, claims Mrs Black, later told her that her low chance of survival was connected to her having low oxygen levels before she was taken to the operating theatre. 

Fortunately the emergency surgery—known medically as a discectomy and fusion—was successful. 

‘I woke up and they’d restored all functions which was amazing. I’m so lucky but I’m still really traumatised,’ said Mrs Black.

‘I can’t yawn without panic and any yawn I try to stifle—it still affects me to this day.

‘I thank [the surgeons] everyday with the fact I’m here to be with my children and do the things that I can do.

‘The fact I’m not in [a wheelchair] is a miracle and I’m eternally grateful.’

The recovery has been gruelling for both Mrs Black and her devoted husband—who became her carer in the months after the freak incident—and her days are marred by excruciating nerve pain, and a new diagnosis of fibromyalgia.    

Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that can cause pain throughout the body as well as other symptoms like fatigue, difficulty sleeping and concentration issues. 

Mrs Black had to re-learn how to walk, and was in a wheelchair for months. 

She has also been left with a tracheal scar from where doctors operated. 

‘The recovery was a long one physically and emotionally. It took me a long time to get my head round it,’ she said

‘My husband became almost essentially a single parent and my carer overnight. 

‘It was really hard and we became homeless over it.

‘I’m still struggling from the nerve damage today. I often get pains going down my arms, shooting down my back and up into my neck and my head.

‘If I don’t take the medication then every time I take a step I get electrical shocks all up my spine and through into my head.’

Breaking her neck has also taken a huge financial toll on the Black family. 

Mrs Black explained: ‘I keep trying to go back to work and I end up having so much time off sick that I end up losing the job or walking away. 

‘I can’t go and do exercise classes or run around with the children.’

Now she wants to warn others of the dangers of this happening to them and urge people to advocate for themselves.

‘I’m not the only one who’s had these freak incidents happen. It’s so delicate in that area, people don’t realise,’ she said.

‘The one thing I have taken from it is to be grateful for the small. Being chronically ill now because of it means I am so grateful for the good days, for the small moments, for being able to walk and for being here with my children and husband.

‘For anyone going through chronic pain or healing from an injury or event that despite society’s pressure, you get to heal in your own raw messy way, and you get to struggle because it’s hard and life changing.

‘You don’t have to be a hero or an inspiration—you get through each day how you can get through the best.

‘Finally advocate for yourself and trust your instincts, you know when something is seriously wrong.’