A woman has shared how a medical “accident” left her disabled and in excruciating pain.
With 3.7 million TikTok followers, 31-year-old Amy Pohl from Hartlepool is shining a spotlight on medical negligence and the brutal reality of living with invisible conditions. Amy’s life was shattered when a doctor reused a needle during a botched cannula insertion triggering an infection and debilitating neurological condition.
“In 2017, I was working as a primary school teacher. I had been feeling run down for a while. I went to the hospital with what was eventually diagnosed as adult croup.
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(Image: Amy Pohl/Cover Images)
“While I was there, I had an allergic reaction to an anaesthetic spray and ended up in ICU. That’s when everything started to go horribly wrong,” Amy explained.
“A doctor tried to insert a cannula but couldn’t get it right on the first attempt, so they reused the same needle for the second try. My hand and wrist swelled up horribly, and I had no idea what was happening.”
What followed was a battle that doctors still struggle to understand fully. Amy became paralysed, a full-time wheelchair user, and developed a deformity in her wrist due to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
“CRPS completely took over my life. When I looked it up, I was horrified to see it being called the ‘suicide disease’ because the pain is so intense. And soon, I understood why. They say it’s the most painful condition you can have, worse than childbirth or even having a digit amputated without anaesthesia. The pain was beyond anything I could’ve imagined,” she noted.
“My hand would swell up, change colour, and it felt like it didn’t belong to me anymore. I despised it. The pain was so intense that even the sensation of air on it felt unbearable. I remember lying there, begging someone – anyone – to just cut my arm off. I was taking morphine just to survive the day, begging every minute for the pain to stop.”
At her lowest point, Amy even considered taking her own life. After spending four months in a psychiatric ward, she realised she had to shift her mindset.
(Image: Amy Pohl/Cover Images)
“I kept telling myself to stop fighting my body and start fighting for it,” she shared.
“Things changed in a way I never expected when I found TikTok. I was stuck in a rehab centre for two weeks, completely isolated from my family and friends during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One day, I downloaded TikTok and started scrolling through videos. Just for fun I filmed myself lip-syncing to a sound and uploaded it, thinking it was private.
(Image: Amy Pohl/Cover Images)
“I was shocked when people started watching it. They began asking questions like, ‘What’s wrong with your hand?’ So, I answered. It made me feel empowered, like people were finally listening to me.”
Amy’s honesty has struck a chord with millions. Her videos cover everything from lighthearted glimpses into her daily life with her care worker to tackling more serious topics like confronting ableism and addressing accessibility challenges.
“I love making people laugh, but I also want to educate them,” she said. “There’s so much misinformation and misunderstanding when it comes to disabilities.”
(Image: Amy Pohl/Cover Images)
One of Amy’s proudest moments is supporting amazing initiatives, such as Canine Partners, a UK charity that pairs specially trained assistance dogs with people who have physical disabilities and participating in the Great North Run to raise money and awareness for the charity.
“I’m very lucky that I have my own personal human assistants, who help me be as independent as possible, and a four-legged friend – Bessler – who acts as a de-assistance dog. For many people, that’s not the case, which is why I became an ambassador for Canine Partners as their dogs have the potential to improve the lives of so many more physically disabled people.”
Amy takes less medication now and feels less pain, but she’s not sure if that’s because her condition has improved or if she’s just learned to manage it better.
(Image: Amy Pohl/Cover Images)
“The problem with pain is that you can’t walk away from it. It follows you wherever you go. Some days, the pain is so bad I can’t even raise my arms.
“But I’ve learned to accept that pain is a part of my life, and I’ve found ways to cope. I’m in a much better place now than when all of this started. Life doesn’t always go the way you planned, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be good.
“I want people to know that there’s always hope no matter what they’re going through,” she concluded.
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