Learning to dance in the rain: Woman they gave a one percent chance of living

Farmer’s wife Sally-Anne Waudby was 39 and had two beautiful children aged six and three when she was hooked up to a life support machine and given less than a one percent chance of surviving an aneurysm.

Brain surgery to stop cerebral bleeding, which was halted then returned and involved a series of further operations, was followed by two strokes while she was still in hospital. Her odds of staying alive were minuscule, so much so that her husband Simon, 44, urged doctors to be so frank with a figure on her chances.

Remarkably, Sally-Anne, now 45, is alive to tell the tale.

Sitting in the dining room of her beautiful Flawith, near Easingwold, farmhouse four days before the sixth anniversary of being rushed 40 miles to hospital in Hull, she takes my hand and runs my fingers over the deep scars on her scalp which are left from incisions surgeons made to save her life.

“I remember waking up and seeing Simon sat on the other side of the room with his head in his hands,” she says, recalling her first moments after coming round in the hospital room following surgery.

“He said ‘I’m sorry Sally-Anne, you’ve had a big stroke’. I thought ‘How am I going to move on from this?’”

Six years on, Sally-Anne is finally claiming her life back, after having to start all over again by learning how to perform rudimentary personal tasks like dressing herself. Now, she is enjoying being there for her children, is determined to win her lifelong battle with her weight and has published a moving book charting her traumatic journey to the brink of death and back to give strength to others.

Her son Charles is now 12, and daughter Lucy nine.

“I found it hard being a mum again but I feel very lucky to be here, to be a mum, and I’m determined to give it my best shot because the children deserve it.”

It was September 2007 
when her world began to fall apart. She couldn’t shake off blinding headaches and a sudden aversion to light. Her appetite was gone, she was nauseous 
and had hallucinations. Despite tests, doctors were mystified.

“The doctors were excellent but they thought I had a virus. I just didn’t get any better then, one morning, I was taking the washing out at home and I had this searing pain and I thought there was something seriously wrong.”

That evening, Sally-Anne went to the doctor and was told to take painkillers, but the pain remained.

“I was going back and forth to my parents in Wetherby because I was finding it hard to look after my children. Then one day, when I was visiting, I collapsed in the dining room and I remember my brother being very upset. He wanted to know what was really going on with me. I was sent to Harrogate Hospital but was discharged without a diagnosis.”

Her condition deteriorated and she was admitted to York hospital for more tests that came out blind. A few days later, Simon received disturbing news.

“Simon got a phone call at 6am from the doctor saying ‘we are going to have to move her to Hull Hospital because we think we have found a bleed on the brain’, so he went to York with his brother and they followed me in the ambulance with the blue lights flashing.

“I was taken into the operating theatre where the surgeons managed to stop the bleeding. It started again after that and I needed more surgery. On 10 October 2007, I was on the life support machine and they told Simon I had less than a one percent chance of making it.”

Despite the slim odds, and after days in intensive care where family and friends kept up a bedside vigil and fellow Christians from Sally-Anne’s congregation prayed for her to pull through, she came round and was able to communicate with Simon by through gestures and writing on bits of paper.

Her recovery since, which has included receiving care at Daniel Yorath House in Garforth, Leeds, the specialist brain injury centre, has been testing.

“It’s been a nightmare recovery learning to do everything again. The most terrible thing was I couldn’t make my children’s beds. It took me ages to learn how to dress again. It’s quite amazing but I have had so much support from my friends; I call them my angels.

“It’s been really tough but everyday I get better and better.”

Her next challenge is to overcome her weight problems. In 2003, she weighed 18st 12lb and while she has shed nearly 4st since, she dreams of slimming to 10st.

“I’ve suffered from obesity all my adult life and have tried every diet there is.

“If I can bring myself back from the brink of death I can sort this weight problem out and I can help others as well.”

Since the surgery, Sally-Anne and Simon have moved into a house they designed themselves on their farm, where geese, sheep, cattle and wildlife can be seen playing out their daily routines from the farmhouse windows.

“I have a husband who is fairly amazing.

“We had quite a volatile relationship before but we haven’t rowed once about the house.

“We’ve had a real battle. It was tough but we have come through it. I’ve had to learn to have discipline and self-control, which is hard.

“I feel very lucky to be here in this house. It’s a special place but it’s for the next generation.

“We have a son and a daughter who are British agriculture’s future. Charles absolutely lives, breathes and sleeps it.”

Sally-Anne’s experiences have given her a fresh outlook, shaped by new found faith and the wisdom of family and friends.

“Someone I met during my rehabilitation said to me, ‘Yesterday is history; tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift’, and a dear friend of mine said, ‘It’s not about learning to weather the storm, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.’ I just have the faith that everything will be all right and I hope I can do the best for the children.”

Sally-Anne says she was “a bit of a wild card” in her youth but is a reformed character after what she has been through.

“I’ve not had a drink for six years. The only spirit I need is the Holy Spirit. Although I don’t go to church regularly enough.

“I will speak to anyone about my faith because I’m passionate about it. Maybe others reject it because they haven’t needed it like I have. It’s all relative to your own experience. It’s helped me come to think what a wonderful world we have got and you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”