Cramlington woman returns to UK after months of surgery

Melanie Hartshorn and surgeon Dr Vicenç Gilete

A woman who was diagnosed with a rare brain-crushing condition has returned home after six months of surgeries abroad.

Melanie Hartshorn, from Northumberland, was told she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, causing her skull to dislocate from her neck and spine.

The 33-year-old flew to Barcelona in October, but was unable to return due to complications with her surgery.

Now she has returned after undergoing a final operation to save her life.

"It felt so good, I was really glad to be back", Ms Hartshorn, from Cramlington, told the BBC.

After raising thousands of pounds for treatment, she travelled to Spain to undergo a "world-first" operation, carried out by spine and neurosurgeon Dr Vicenç Gilete, which is not available in the UK.

Ms Hartshorn had also been put into an induced coma

Taking place over a number of stages, she raised more than £80,000 for the final procedure alone, which she said was her last "chance to live".

Ms Hartshorn had hoped to return to the UK for Christmas, but those hopes were dashed when she suffered "massive complications".

• Spine op patient too ill to go home for Christmas

"I was in intensive care for five weeks. I got out of hospital and we found out my throat had come open and my spine was exposed, which is very dangerous", she said.

"The only way round it was to having a feeding tube put in but then I was allergic and I had to be admitted for three weeks until the hole healed up - we couldn't come home".

During the treatments, which involved operating through her sternum and throat, her mother Molly stayed to help between surgeries and with recovery.

The final surgery took place on 10 February and was deemed a success.

On Saturday, she arrived back at Newcastle Airport was reunited with her friends, family and her dog Poppy.

Melanie returned back to Newcastle Airport on Saturday

She said: "I am just grateful and really pleased that it all worked. I had to write down my wishes and get legal things to say what would happen if it had went wrong, if I had died. It was really risky".

For the next 12 months, Ms Hartshorn will need to limit her movement and is taking injections, also not available in the UK, to promote bone growth and aid recovery.

From there, she will be able to have her brace removed and be able to sit up. She is planning to undergo training to become a primary school teacher, once recovered.

However, despite raising much of the funds for her life-saving treatment, there is still about £45,000 outstanding which she needs to repay.

She previously thanked those who had supported her in a series of social media posts, which she has been using to update her friends and family.

Melanie Hartshorn is determined to lead as normal a life as possible and become a primary teacher