She Broke Her Neck, And She’s Talking About What It’s Like To Be Paralyzed
Three years ago, TikToker Makayla Noble (@makaylanoble13) broke her neck in an accident and became a quadriplegic, which means that she is paralyzed from the chest down. Now, she’s talking about her personal experience of what it’s like to be paralyzed.
First of all, Makayla can’t sweat. The only time she sweats is when she has an infection or when she’s sick.
She can’t be outside for too long in the summer, or else she will overheat. If she is going to lie by the pool, she needs to have ice packs on her and be surrounded by fans.
Makayla also cannot go to the bathroom by herself. She has to use a catheter and a bowel program. She no longer has her normal laugh and can barely sneeze or cough because her diaphragm is very weak. However, she was able to relearn how to swim.
Because her level of injury is so high, she cannot do many things independently and must rely on her caregivers, who are her older sister and her mom.
Furthermore, Makayla often deals with something called autonomic dysreflexia (AD), a condition that involves hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias.
It’s basically when your brain and body are trying to tell you that something is wrong. When this happens to Makayla, her blood pressure tends to spike.
In addition, she experiences a lot of muscle spasms in her legs. Makayla also has really bad nerve pain in her left wrist and hand.
Despite all the challenges that she faces on a daily basis, she is the embodiment of resilience, hope, and growth.
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She is proving that life does not end after a spinal cord injury—it just changes in the most inspiring ways.
Several TikTok users praised Makayla for her vulnerability and spirit. They even shared their own struggles with disability and chronic illness, expressing how comforting it was to see someone speak so openly about these realities.
“I have a chronic illness/disability called spina bifida, and that causes me not to have any control over my bowel or bladder, which I cath myself and do a bowel program. Thank you for letting me know that I’m not alone,” commented one user.
“I had the worst nerve pain in my hands for the first three years. I could barely put a shirt on, and I couldn’t touch anything. It hurt so bad I would just cry. Now, it’s gotten so much better! Almost nonexistent, so I hope that happens for you,” added another.
More About:Human Interest
