Woman, 25, 'partially decapitated' diving into swimming pool on holiday

Daily Mirror

25-04-2025

A woman was told she suffered the 'worst injury in London' by stunned doctors who couldn't believe she was alive after her horror accident while on holiday in Turkey
A woman who is "fortunate to be alive" has shared how a horrific accident on holiday left her "partially decapitated". Becca Reed travelled to Turkey with her pals for her friend's 23rd birthday, and her life changed in an instant.
The 25-year-old, from London, was playing an innocent game of volleyball in the pool when she suddenly broke her neck. After a dive to catch the ball went wrong, she hit her head on the concrete base of the pool and spent the next few days in a "haze and daze". Believing she had whiplash, she managed the pain with just painkillers.
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However it wasn't until she flew home and sought medical advice that she was told her injury was a lot more severe than she thought, with stunned doctors telling her they were 'surprised' she didn't die. Doctors told Becca she had crushed the C5 and C6 vertebrae in her neck, leading to two operations and years of mental and physical rehabilitation.
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"When I did eventually see a doctor, the first thing she said after I told her what had happened was, 'I'm surprised you're not dead'," Becca recalled. She said doctors credited her unusually strong back and shoulder muscles as the factors that held her spinal cord in place, helping her survive the moment of impact and the days afterwards.
She said she was in pain, but there was no swelling, and added: "There was no bruising, my muscles were all just really tight – and it's called guarding. My muscles were guarding the rest of my body because I essentially partially decapitated myself, so my muscles were holding my head on."
Becca, who works in PR, put her strong muscles down to visiting the gym five or six times a week for nearly two years beforehand, declaring, "That is why I am alive." She further noted: "Doctors said if my injury had happened to a normal person, they wouldn't walk, move, talk."
Always living an active lifestyle, Becca enjoyed lifting weights, skipping and boxing and had only ever torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in one knee, aged 17, but otherwise suffered no major injuries – until the trip to Turkey in May 2022. The one move in the pool changed her life in an instant.
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"The dive just went so wrong," she explained. "My hands didn't even hit the bottom, my head was just the first thing to hit the bottom. Once the injury had happened, I just floated in the water for what felt like an eternity and I was just thinking, 'Can I move my feet?'"
When she finally realised she could move, she stood up and climbed out of the pool, and over the next few days, stayed in bed and took painkillers. Becca said she didn't instantly think she'd broken her neck or spine, she just thought she had "severe whiplash".
But the pain increased after flying home, and she called NHS 111 for some advice, where she was told to go to A&E at North Middlesex University Hospital, where she underwent an X-ray and various scans before being placed in a neck brace. "Doctors told me I had the worst injury in London on this day," she recalled.
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"They said that my C5 and C6 vertebrae were just completely smushed and I had basically just cracked them both in half." She was then taken to the Royal London Hospital where she underwent two operations: one to replace the shattered vertebrae with a metal structure, and another to stabilise her neck with rods and screws.
It was then she found out her pre-injury dedication to fitness saved her life. "The pain was actually the worst after the second surgery because they had to cut through all of my neck and back muscles. The surgeon said you've grown muscles where people don't usually grow muscles because I used to lift weights, and that is one of the main reasons why everything else held on."
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During her recovery, Becca had to re-learn how to turn over in bed, stand up from lying down, walk and even put moisturiser on her face. While it was "long and gruelling" and she said she neglected her mental health at times, Becca knew she had to "show up" for herself.
With the help and support of her friends and family, as well as Spinal Research, she began to rebuild her strength. "My body held on for dear life when I didn't know it needed to… so I really needed to spend some time getting my body back to where I trusted in it again."
According to Spinal Research, in the UK, someone is paralysed by a spinal cord injury every two hours, and this can be caused by an accident, illness, or a health condition. After six months, Becca was able to start lifting 10kg weights, and in January 2024, she made a New Year's resolution to "find passion in movement again."
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Becca then decided to start running as she found "peace and serenity" as well as a newfound confidence in herself and her body. Now nearly three years after the accident, she will be running the TCS London Marathon on behalf of Spinal Research to raise awareness of the science and support systems that helped save her life.
Having never run 5km before the accident, Becca said: "If there's one thing that comes out of any of this, it's me advocating for people to get in the gym and be active. I didn't realise it would save my life, and you don't want it to be too late, so start now. Just show up for yourself now so you can thank yourself later because you don't know what's around the corner."