Teacher, 40, left paralysed for life after being crushed by 120kg barbell at the gym

A PE teacher was left paralysed after slipping while doing a squat, causing a 120kg barbell to crush her spine. 

Henrietta Paxton, 40, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, would regularly use the hefty weights in the gym and had never experienced an injury. 

However, in May this year, the barbell unexpectedly slipped backwards during a set of squats, ending up behind her shoulders.

The mum-of-two tried to readjust her stance, but overcompensated — knocking herself forward and ultimately being crushed under the heavy weight. 

Ms Paxton was rushed to Southampton General Hospital where doctors conducted scans and tests, and delivered the devastating news that she’d broken part of her spine and damaged her spinal cord, leaving her paralysed from the waist down. 

Henrietta Paxton, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, pictured with her two sons, would regularly train in the gym, but it was in the middle of a set of squats when the barbell started to slip backwards

The 40-year-old mum-of-two tried to catch it and readjust it to bring it back onto the top of her shoulders again, but overcompensated — instead being knocked forwards and crushed under the heavy weight

After MRI and CT scans, she was told she had broken and dislocated part of her spine at her T11 and T12 and had suffered a complete spinal cord injury meaning she is paralysed from the waist down

Ms Paxton described the incident as the ‘most terrifying of my life’. 

‘That moment when I knew what was happening, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

‘It was a massive thud. A huge thud. That’s the sensation I felt in my back as it went.

‘I think deep down I knew. I heard it, I obviously heard it go and felt my back break and people around me were obviously trying to keep me calm and saying things would be alright but I knew what I had done straight away.

‘It was a split second of making a decision and it going wrong.

‘The pain was indescribable, there’s nothing I can compare it to. It was the most pain I’ve ever experienced.’   

She confessed she should have been using squat safety bar — a piece of gym equipment that allows you to safely offload the weight. 

She would usually use this equipment, but this particular gym did not have one. 

Doctors told Ms Paxton that it is rare to be able to regain sensation in the spine after suffering an injury like hers

‘It just became the norm not to use [a squat safety bar] but looking back, it’s just a ridiculous idea to squat without them and I would say to anyone ever now just don’t squat without safety bars.

The day after the accident she underwent an operation to have five of her vertebrae  bolted together to stabilise her spine.

Despite it being successful, doctors told Ms Paxton that it is very unlikely she’ll regain sensation. 

She said: ‘The surgery wasn’t what worried me as much as just the damage I’d done to my spinal cord which they can’t do anything about that. The surgery is just to fix the bone.’ 

After spending six weeks in hospital Ms Paxton was moved to the Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury where she is still receiving treatment.

The following day after the accident on May 29, she underwent an operation where five of her vertebrae were bolted together to stabilise her spine

After spending six weeks in hospital Ms Paxton was moved to the Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury where she is still receiving treatment

She said that although doctors have told her it is unlikely she will ever walk again, she is determined to do everything she can to regain movement in her legs including using a standing frame everyday to keep her lower body strong

Although doctors have told her it is unlikely she will ever walk again, she is determined to do everything she can to regain movement in her legs including using a standing frame everyday to keep her lower body strong.

Ms Paxton still experiences a lot of discomfort with an aching back but is continuing her regular gym sessions where she works out her upper body. 

She has always had a passion for sport and even competed in the pole vault at two commonwealth games before retiring in 2017 following a knee injury.

She is hoping to be able to return to work in January for the start of the new school term and said she is thinking about taking up a new sport such as wheelchair basketball or wheelchair rugby.

Ms Paxton said: ‘I just always knew I wanted to be an athlete, I wanted to go to the Olympics and be an athlete. That’s all I wanted to do.

Recalling the incident she confessed she should have been using squat safety bar — a piece of gym equipment that allows you to safely offload the weight

She is hoping to be able to return to work in January for the start of the new school term and said she is thinking about taking up a new sport such as wheelchair basketball or wheelchair rugby

Most of the rehab she is now receiving is centred around getting used to life in a wheelchair, being able to get in and out of the chair. But she is determined to do everything she can for her spinal cord to be able to heal as best it can

‘I’ve got so much stuff still to do with my life, I’m not going to let this take hold and reduce the quality of my life, let alone the quality of my family’s life. That’s what kind of gets me up every day and keeps me going.

‘On the whole you’ve just got to get on with it because life goes on and it’ll go on with or without you so I’d rather be involved.’

Most of the rehab she is now receiving is centred around getting used to life in a wheelchair, being able to get in and out of the chair. 

But she is determined to do everything she can for her spinal cord to be able to heal as best it can. 

‘I’m a very tenacious person and I don’t really take no for an answer quite a lot of the time,’ she said. 

‘There’s a lot of new skills to learn and a lot to get your head around. It’s eye-opening how much you take for granted.

‘Just things like putting clothes on is just an effort. You know, pulling shorts up and down, there’s just so many little things that you’re like, nothing’s quick anymore is how I’d describe it. You can’t just pop to the loo.

‘I used to be a person who was a million miles an hour and impatient so this has been a learning curve, being forced to slow down.’

She has always had a passion for sport and even competed in the pole vault at two commonwealth games before retiring in 2017 following a knee injury

Some of the money raised in the fundraiser will also be put towards private rehab once she has been discharged from the hospital

She hopes the work on the house will be done in the next six weeks and then she can be discharged from the hospital and return home

However, Ms Paxton has been left unable to get around her own home so has launched a JustGiving page in the hope of raising some of the £230,000 that is likely to be needed to convert her three-story house. 

Some of the money raised will also be put towards private rehab once she has been discharged from the hospital.

Ms Paxton said she needs a platform lift fitted outside of her house and a through floor lift  inside so she can get between floors in addition to adapting a bathroom so she can use it.

Ms Paxton said: ‘It’s a big target but I’m feeling hopeful.

‘We know it’s a lot, we don’t get any grants to make the changes to our house, nothing at all. So we have to pay for all of that ourselves as well as any further rehab.

‘It’s a three-storey townhouse, which is just ridiculous. You couldn’t have picked a more unsuitable house for a wheelchair.

‘Because my long term goal is to stand again and to walk, if I want to chase that goal then I have to fund private rehab.

‘That’s not cheap but that’s the way the system works.

‘I think I’ve been overwhelmed by the support from friends and family. Although this has been the worst thing you could sort of imagine happening, it’s showed me how amazing human beings can be and we’ve had so much love and support shown to us.

‘We’ve got a lot to raise so honestly every little tiny bit is so greatly appreciated and does help so I just want to say a massive thank you to anybody and everybody who has already donated and might still donate. 

‘I have two small boys, they’re three and five and I need to get back to them.

‘I just want to be back with my family. I don’t want their lives to be affected by my mistake and my accident. I don’t want it to affect their opportunities or the things we do as a family.’