Couple Marries in Hospital After Bride Is Paralyzed Attempting to Do a ‘Stunt’ During Her Bachelorette Weekend

Bride Carla Horton, 44, fractured her neck and was paralyzed from the chest down weeks before her May 30 wedding date

Nothing was going to stop bride Carla Horton from marrying her “soulmate” — not even a life-altering health crisis.

Five weeks before her scheduled wedding, the 44-year-old was celebrating her bachelorette weekend with friends in Skegness, a seaside town on England’s Lincolnshire coast, when she decided to attempt a “stunt” that resulted in her fracturing her neck and being paralyzed from the chest down, according to a release from Nottingham University Hospitals.

“I made a silly misjudgment on my hen do and tried to do a stunt which I think I was just too old to do,” Horton recalled.

Once she gained consciousness after the accident, she discovered that she couldn’t move. Her friends called an ambulance and alerted Horton’s then-fiancé Craig Bolton.

“When I was told exactly what had happened, my world caved in,” he remembered.

“I drove to Boston hospital and was greeted with Carla in Resus, all strapped up. It was the absolute shock of my life,” he added.

After initially being taken to a local hospital in Skegness, Horton was transported to Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, England, for various tests and scans to determine the extent of her injury. She was then taken to Nottingham Queen’s Medical Centre for an MRI and spinal surgery.

The couple credits the swift and thorough care that Horton received for the progress she has made in her recovery.

“If that work hadn’t been done in that timescale, we could have been in a completely different situation right now,” Bolton said.

Following Horton’s surgery, Bolton made the three-hour round trip from their home in Dudley, England, to be by her side in the hospital each day. Horton remembered telling Bolton early on, “If you want to walk away you can, and I would understand.”

“I think when something like this happens to someone, you don’t want to put them through the possibility that you might never walk again,” she explained.

But Bolton wasn’t going anywhere.

“When I come in every day and see the fight in her, I do fall in love more each day,” he said. “You do find your soulmate at some point, and when you do, you know. And I’ve found mine.”

The couple, who had been scheduled to get married at a church in Coseley on May 30, decided to keep their original wedding date — only, the ceremony would look a bit different than they initially imagined. They held their nuptials in the chapel at Queen’s Medical Centre that day, joined by friends, family and members of the Spinal Cord Injury team.

“All I said to Craig was, ‘I can’t wait any longer to marry you. I don’t want to wait 18 months or two years until I am possibly walking again, or possibly not. I cannot wait that long,’ ” Horton recalled of their decision. “So, we both agreed that we would still do it on Friday, no matter where it was or how it was.”

Nottingham University Hospitals Charity stepped in to help bring their impromptu wedding to life, arranging decorations, food, flowers and a hair stylist for Horton.

“Everyone here has been deeply moved by Carla and Craig’s story, and it was a huge privilege to collaborate with colleagues across Nottingham University Hospital, including the dedicated ward staff who go above and beyond, every day of the year,” Sam Cousens, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Nottingham Hospitals Charity, said in the release.

“As a charity, we were able to bring together our incredible network of supporters and generous local businesses, to help turn a heartbreaking situation into a day filled with love and positivity,” Cousens added.