Rachel Pighills: Mystery benefactor enables life-saving op in Spain

The 35-year-old mother-of-one was struck by the fan at her home in 2018

A woman is set to undergo potentially life-saving surgery thanks to an anonymous benefactor's £130,000 contribution towards her care.

Rachel Pighills has a complex neck injury where her brain is sinking into her spine after a freak accident with a ceiling fan at her Worcestershire home.

But the money has helped her reach her £350,000 target for surgery in Spain.

"No amount of words can express what it means to us and how grateful we are," Mrs Pighills said.

"She really is our guardian angel."

The 35-year-old mother-of-one from Pershore was struck by the fan in 2018 which damaged her neck and back.

Her neck is struggling to support the weight of her head and doctors have told her her skull is now sinking into her spine and the longer it is untreated, the higher the risk of permanent damage.

Surgery in Spain will hopefully be successful after spinal fusion surgery failed in 2020

Mrs Pighills said her life is threatened if she moves her head in the wrong way, and that she struggled to breathe or remain upright after being diagnosed with a number of other critical head and spinal conditions.

Family and friends set up a crowdfunding bid for the surgery in Barcelona, but said in March they were about £140,000 short.

The benefactor from Warwickshire - a woman in her 60s - reached out after seeing her story broadcast on BBC Midlands Today last summer.

The BBC's Giles Latcham has spoken to the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, and said she had recently sold her house and while she cannot afford to give £130,000 Mrs Pighills needs to enable the surgery, she has agreed to lend it to her.

"I can't believe somebody I've never even met could do such a thing for us," Mrs Pighills added.

Mrs Pighills is too unwell to fly, but the couple have bought an old ambulance which her husband Guy will drive to Spain.

"I'm terrified, I'm not going to lie. I am absolutely terrified," he said.

"We've got to do this. It's going to be hard, you know, but I'm excited as well as being terrified as well."

The couple will travel to Spain in an old ambulance