'I can still hug my kids': Mother-of-three paralysed trying to save kitten stuck in tree
A mother-of-three has been left paralysed after she climbed a tree to save her new kitten and fell on an exposed root.
Rachel Maree, from Perth, is recovering in hospital after the horrific accident earlier this week and said she's been told she "may never use her legs again."
"I'm pretty drugged up and in extreme pain," the 30-year-old wrote on Facebook. "[I have] a long recovery ahead and plenty of rehab.
"Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst."
Blogger Constance Hall shared Ms Maree's story to her one million followers on Tuesday, saying the injured mother "would give anything to anyone."
“[Rachel’s] best friend Rikki Livingston messaged me last night to tell me about her and to ask me to give her a shout out,” Hall wrote.
"But earlier this week this beautiful women's new kitten got stuck up a tree and having the biggest caring heart she climbed it to save the kitten.
"Unfortunately she fell and landed on the root of the tree and at that instant she knew she was paralysed, she may never use her legs again."
Ms Maree responded to Hall's post, saying the blogger had "put some sunshine in her day."
The fall broke and disclocated a vertebrae, crushing the woman spinal cord.
Titanium rods and screws now stabilise her spine, but with three children to look after, life will never be the same.
Rachel said she was normally very agile but was wearing slippers at the time and blamed them for losing her footing.
She remained remarkably positive despite the prospect of a difficult recovery.
"I still have movement in the top part of my body," she said.
"I can still hug my kids."
