A DAY off work ended in disaster for Hannah Roper when sharing a bottle of rosé with a pal at the pub resulted in a horror fall.
The 24-year-old ended up having the left side of her skull removed – and admits a “drunk silly mistake almost cost her life”.
Hannah Roper enjoyed a day off from work with a friend having drinks at the pub[/caption]
Afterwards she opted to hang out at a friend’s house – which is where the horror fall occured[/caption]
After mistaking where the bathroom was, she fell down a staircase, and bleeding from her nose and ear, her friends called for an ambulance[/caption]
After finishing up drinks at the pub during her day off in October last year, Hannah decided to hang out a friend’s house.
But when she went to use her friend’s toilet, she claims she accidentally mistook the cellar door for the bathroom one and fell down the staircase.
Her friend heard a loud “bang” and found Hannah lying at the bottom of the stairs bleeding from her nose and ear.
And when she began to fall in-and-out of consciousness and started to throw up, she was taken via ambulance to The Royal Stoke University Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.
After being diagnosed with a bleed on the brain, Hannah needed the left side of her skull removed to relieve the pressure and reduce the swelling.
She then spent five months wearing a helmet to protect her exposed brain before having a metal plate insert to replace the missing skull.
Hannah, a carer from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, claims that if she hadn’t undergone the first operation, surgeons said she would have died.
She said: “I had a day off work so my friend and I went to the pub and shared a bottle of rosé.
“After going back to my house and cooking tea, I went round to my friend’s boyfriend’s house.
“We didn’t drink much more at her house. I said I was going to the toilet, and then she heard a bang and I was at the bottom of the [cellar] stairs.
“It was a terrace house so I’m assuming I got confused and went through the cellar door instead of opening the toilet door. I slipped down all of the steps to the bottom.
“I was bleeding from my nose and my ear and I was in-and-out of consciousness.
“They put me in the recovery position because I was being sick. I had no bruises so I must have just hit my head.
“All I remember then is being at the hospital but I don’t remember much because of the injury and because I was on very strong painkillers [in hospital].
“Doctors said that if they hadn’t called the ambulance I would have died. A silly drunk mistake could have cost me my life.”
On the fourth day in hospital I had a scan and within 10 minutes they had told my mum I needed to be taken into surgery else I would die before the end of the night
Hannah Roper
Hannah continued: “On the fourth day in hospital I had a scan and within 10 minutes they had told my mum I needed to be taken into surgery else I would die before the end of the night.
“My brain was bleeding and it was swelling and that’s why they had to remove the skull.
“What the surgeon told me was that my brain was swelling so they had to put a drain in to remove the blood. They removed half of the left side of my skull.
“I will now have a metal plate in my head for life. Part of my head is going to be metal for life.”
My horror fall was ‘predicted’
Hannah now claims ignoring a psychic’s warning left her with am partial metal head as she “predicted” her horror fall.
After visiting a fortune teller back in April 2024 she was warned about not going to the nearby town of Fenton, Staffordshire, and “watching her drink” there if she did.
Hannah admits the bizarrely specific warning alarmed her so much she avoided the area for months.
Her friend’s house she hung out at after the pub was in the town she was warned about.
She said: “Last year I went to see a psychic. There’s a town near me called Fenton and she asked if I ever go out there.
“I said I sometimes do. She told me to be careful and watch my drink.
“I didn’t go for months and then I went and this happened. She predicted my accident.”
Hannah was diagnosed with a bleed on the brain and had to have half her skull removed[/caption]
She had to wear a helmet for five months to protect her exposed brain[/caption]
Hannah said if she hadn’t undergone the first op she would have died[/caption]
Hannah’s head now contains a metal plate, which she says she’ll have for the rest of her life[/caption]
A year on from her injury, Hannah says she hasn’t been left with any permanent brain damage but does get extremely tired and dizzy on a daily basis.
When preparing for her second operation this year, she shaved her whole head and raised more than £2,000 for Headway – a brain injury charity.
Hannah said: “Because it’s an injury to my brain, it can affect everything.
“I went away in August in Spain, and it [my injury] affected my temperature control and I was sick every day.
“I now have hormonal imbalances because of it too now.
“The night before surgery I shaved my whole head and I now wear wigs while it grows back.
“I raised over £2,000 for Headway which is a brain injury charity.”
How to prevent alcohol-related accidents
Drinking alcohol makes you more prone to accidents. These range from road traffic accidents to falls, drowning, poisoning and other unintentional injuries – and can be minor or serious.
If you have drunk alcohol, you shouldn’t drive, operate machinery, swim or take unnecessary risks.
Remember that your performance and judgement could still be affected by alcohol the day after a heavy drinking session.
You can also help reduce alcohol-related accidents by looking out for friends who might be behaving dangerously.
To keep short-term risks from accidents or injury low, the UK Chief Medical Officers advise you to:
- limit the total amount of alcohol you drink on any single occasion
- drink more slowly, drink with food, and alternate your drinks with water
- plan ahead to avoid problems – for example by making sure you can get home safely, or that you have people you trust with you
Source: Drinkaware
