Ronan Keating’s wife Storm faces full year of rehab after emergency surgery for rare spine condition
RONAN Keating’s wife Storm has revealed she faces a year of rehab after having emergency surgery on her spine.
The fashion designer, 39, was diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome last month, a rare condition where the nerves in the lower back are severely compressed.
Her surgery was a success, but she still faces a long road to a full recovery.
Speaking to the Mirror, she said: “You’ve got to give the nerves 12 months post-surgery. It’s a long time to wait but between now and then I’m on a rigorous programme that will ease up as I get stronger.”
Storm was overwhelmed with emotion when her surgeon told her the operation had gone well and that her life was likely to return to the normal in the future.
She explained: “It wasn’t until the surgeon said it was a success that I broke down. Then I had a couple of weeks with waves of emotions. You start to panic. You realise what your life would’ve looked like and that I wouldn’t have been able to drive to school, or gone on holidays.
“My view definitely changed a lot since I had that scare. I’m still going through rehabilitation at the minute. I’m not 100 per cent perfect, but I’m very guilty of never making time for myself. I don’t have a good balance. But now I believe you can’t ignore your body. You’ve got to make time and look after yourself.”
Storm initially needed medical help for a “very bad prolapsed disc”, but it ended up being much more serious when she was diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome, which if untreated can lead to paralysis.
Last month the mum-of-two posted a picture of her in hospital and wrote: “It’s been a long and trialling week, the most frightening week of my life.
“On Saturday I was rushed in with what we already knew was a very bad prolapsed disc, which had more recently escalated to the point where it needed surgical intervention.
What is Cauda equina syndrome?
Cauda equina syndrome is a rare and severe type of spinal stenosis where all of the nerves in the lower back suddenly become severely compressed.
Accroding to the NHS Symptoms include:
- sciatica on both sides
- weakness or numbness in both legs that is severe or getting worse
- numbness around or under your genitals, or around your anus
- finding it hard to start peeing, can’t pee or can’t control when you pee – and this isn’t normal for you
- you don’t notice when you need to poo or can’t control when you poo – and this isn’t normal for you
Cauda equina syndrome requires emergency hospital admission and emergency surgery, because the longer it goes untreated, the greater the chance it will lead to permanent paralysis and incontinence.
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“Whilst stabilising in hospital however, this then escalated to Cauda Equina Compression/ Syndrome which required emergency spinal surgery to avoid permanent damage.”
Storm concluded by telling her followers to “take care of their backs” and not take the spine for granted.
She added: “I’m very lucky but I wouldn’t wish what I’ve been through on anyone. We share our highs on Insta but sometimes it’s good to share our lows too. This has been one of mine .”
Storm married Boyzone singer Ronan in 2015, meeting while both were working on the Australian X Factor.
They are parents to a son Cooper, born 2017 and a little girl called Coco.