Margaret recovers in hospital after part of her skull was removed because of swelling on her brain
Margaret was home from hospital three weeks after coming out of her coma
Margaret McGuinness has been carrying her skull in her stomach for the last year.
The Belfast woman suffered severe head injuries in a fall last February, but because of an alleged hospital cock-up she is still waiting for vital reconstructive surgery.
Because of swelling on the brain part of Margaret’s skull was removed and put into her stomach to keep the skin alive.
But in a true-life horror story the piece of skull that should have been re-attached eight months ago is lying, now useless, in her abdomen.
And she is now facing the further trauma of having a titanium plate inserted into her head.
The mum of three claims she has been failed by staff at the Royal Victoria Hospital, the hospital that initially saved her life.
In an exclusive interview last night Margaret lifted the lid on the impact the medical mistake has had upon her life and revealed the anger she feels about all the precious months of recovery wasted.
“I just want my life back, that’s all I ask. I have been patient and I have tried to understand that mistakes do happen but they have just thrown me to the side and forgotten about me,” Margaret McGuinness told the Sunday World.
“When I was released from hospital I was told that the surgery would take place within eight weeks. That was in March 2013. I have been left in this kind of limbo ever since and I really can’t take any more,” she said.
Margaret suffered frontal and rear fractures to her head after a fall in her mother’s house last February.
She also suffered a cardiac arrest and spent three weeks in a coma due to the seriousness of her head injuries.
“I only fell from the third stair but apparently I hit the back of my head off the cabinet in the hallway and then fell onto the front of my head.
“I don’t remember a thing but my niece who was there said a rattle came from me, the death rattle,” said Margaret.
“My poor mother was there and heard it and said ‘she is dying, she is going to die’. She said it was the same noise she heard coming from my father who was killed by a plastic bullet as he stood beside her,” she revealed.
Paramedics rushed the 46-year-old to hospital yet she suffered a cardiac arrest en route.
She said: “I know how lucky I am to be here but I don’t deserve to be treated like this. My whole life has been put on hold because of this delay.
“I can’t go back to work, I can’t go on holiday. I can’t even bend my head up or down without feeling as if my brain is about to fall out and that is the worst feeling in the world.
“The fact is that if I banged my head in the slightest it could kill me. There is no protection there, none at all, and I have to live with the fear that the smallest of accidents could be it.
“Even the local children stop playing football if I am taken up the street to see my mother. They know if the ball hit me it could kill me.
“It’s so hard to live like this and sometimes I just break down and cry.
“I feel so useless because I used to run this house, I used to look after my mum, work full time and walk three times a week and now look at me,” she revealed.
Margaret McGuinness shows where her skull was implanted into her stomach. Pics by Conor McCaughley
Margaret underwent emergency surgery due to the swelling on her brain. She was in a coma for three weeks while her family sat by her bedside her in intensive care.
She said: “They were told at times to fear the worst.
“That’s the thing with brain injuries, you just never know how things are going to turn out. Even when things were looking better you don’t know how the person will respond, what damage will be caused and how they will be once the person does come round, that’s if they ever do.
“They had to remove part of my skull because of the swelling and bleeding on the brain. That’s when they inserted the part of the skull they removed into my stomach.
“They did that to keep the skin alive until they could re-attach it when the swelling and bleeding had subsided but like I said they forgot about me and that never happened.
“Because so much time has passed the skull in my stomach can’t be used and I have to be fitted for a metal plate.
“I am furious when I think about what has happened to me and the fact that it is me chasing the hospital and not them trying to put their mistake right.
“They only started to react to me when my GP complained on my behalf,” she explained.
The former barwoman and full time carer to her mum is no further on from the moment she exited hospital after a miracle six week fight for life.
“I was in a coma for three weeks and I went home three weeks after that and I put that down to determination.
“I remember the first day I got lifted in a hoist and put into a chair where I had to be strapped in and I remember thinking this will not be me.
“I couldn’t speak but I was so angry that I was in that position and I vowed then that I would not let this happen to me and that I would fight to get my life back.
“I did that but now I am back to square one, having the scans I already had for a procedure I should have had last year.
“All I am asking is for the hospital to give me a time for my operation so I can continue of fighting to get my life back. “
A spokesperson for the the Belfast Trust said: “Since August 2013 two of our consultant neurosurgeons have left. We are sorry the impact of this has resulted in a longer waiting time for some patients. Obviously this a situation which we find difficult, but we maintain regular contact with patients in order to ensure they are fully aware of their treatment options and plans.
“We would wish to assure our patients that we are continuing to make every effort to address this as soon as possible.”