A 43-year-old businesswoman from Swinton has spoken out about the moment she thought she was going to die from a seizure before quick-thinking staff saved her life.
Sharon Palmer had gone to the Body Beautiful salon on Cleggs Lane in Little Hulton for a business meeting with manager Jane Blood when the shocking event took place.
“We were chatting away in the beauty room in the back of the salon and then it happened out of nowhere,” said Jane, 38.
“I thought Sharon was going to sneeze, but she suddenly flew off the chair and threw herself into the wall.
“I was like someone had picked her up and flung her across the room. I just screamed and came flying out down the corridor.”
Blood was spattered on the white walls as Sharon fell to the floor, fitting.
The Body Beautiful salon on Cleggs Lane, Little Hulton
The mum-of-four explained: “As we rolled Sharon over, this was the worst part: there was a huge pool of blood under her head.
“It looked like a murder scene.
“Then we saw that when she’d fallen she had impaled herself on her own umbrella and it was sticking out of her face.”
With the North West Ambulance call-handler on the phone, staff yanked the pointed tip of the umbrella out of Sharon’s cheek.
It was just milimetres from her right eye.
“When they pulled the umbrella out all this blood started pouring onto the floor, I think that’s what freaked me out the most,” said Jane.
“I’ll never forget what that looked like, it was horrendous.
“I don’t get scared easily but I was frightened to death.”
“It’s like my brain just switched itself off and I was possessed,” said Sharon, who lives on Knowsley Drive.
“One of the girls tried holding me down to stop me hurting myself but I was really strong, apparently, and I was punching at her.”
She could have died if it weren’t for 15-year-old Sarah Patton, Jane’s son’s girlfriend who works a few hours a week at Body Beautiful.
Sarah rushed into the room to put Sharon in the recovery position while others dialled 999.
“Sarah was amazing,” said Jane, “she just took control of the situation. I told her how well she’d done, she shouldn’t have seen something as gruesome as that at her age. All of my staff were calm under pressure.
Jane Blood and Sarah Patton at Body Beautiful
When paramedics arrived they said it was one of the worst seizures they’d ever seen.
“I blacked out,” said Sharon, “all I know is what they told me.
“I remember coming round in the room and looking down at myself covered in blood.
“My heart rate was very high and I stopped breathing until Sarah brought me round again.”
Scarily enough, Sharon has no family history of the illness.
She does suffer from anxiety and stress, and the only thing doctors could think of was that she had ‘overdone it’ with lack of sleep and not eating properly.
Sharon’s injuries after the accident
Jane, who lives with her partner and four children on Gorse Drive in Little Hulton, added: “For a couple of days after, it felt like it didn’t happen, it was surreal.
“When I came running out of the room things just blanked out, my staff told me I had my head in my hands but I can’t remember it.
“My lips and arms just went numb, I felt like I was having a stroke but the paramedics said I was in shock. They said she definitely would have died if we hadn’t been there.
“We talk about it now and say ‘It’s got to be a dream’.
“I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do,” said Sharon.
“If all the girls and the man on the end of the 999 call hadn’t been so calm, I’d be dead.”
Now Sharon wants to raise awareness of what to do in an emergency seizure situation.
The Epilepsy Society recommends the following 10 steps:
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Stay calm and don’t panic.
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Look around – is the person in a dangerous place? If not, don’t move them. Move objects like furniture away from them.
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Note the time the seizure starts.
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Stay with them. If they don’t collapse but seem blank or confused, gently guide them away from any danger. Speak quietly and calmly.
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Cushion their head with something soft if they have collapsed to the ground.
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Don’t hold them down.
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Don’t put anything in their mouth.
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Check the time again. If a convulsive (shaking) seizure doesn’t stop after 5 minutes, call for an ambulance (dial 999).
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After the seizure has stopped, put them into the recovery position and check that their breathing is returning to normal. Gently check their mouth to see that nothing is blocking their airway such as food or false teeth. If their breathing sounds difficult after the seizure has stopped, call for an ambulance.
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Stay with them until they are fully recovered.
Sharon’s face is still bruised four weeks on, but the only marker that it happened is a tiny scratch near her eye where the umbrella pierced her cheek.
“I know its awful but we’ve become friends through this,” Jane added.
“We see Sharon regularly and I just thank my staff for staying so calm under pressure. They really are life-savers.”
