"I gave up on myself": Coronation Street actor tells how freak supermarket accident changed her life
06.06.2023 - 19:21
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A television actor whose life was turned upside down after a freak accident in a supermarket has told how her recovery from spinal injuries transformed her outlook from ‘total despair to hope’. Rochdale born Jeni Williams, an actor and comedian whose memorable TV roles include appearances on Coronation Street, Emmerdale and The Royal, fell while on a routine shopping trip in September 2016.
She sustained complex compression injuries to her back which damaged three of the five nerve routes through her spine. Jeni, 56, said following the accident she ‘gave up on herself’ but after years of lack of mobility and pain and with the support of of family, friends ‘who refused to give up on me’ she is now hopeful for the future and dreams of resuming her acting career.
Almost seven years since the accident, Jeni, a former Balderstone High School student, is about to move into a new home in Horwich. She has spent the past five years living at Hoyles Court – an independent living scheme in Radcliffe, operated by Irwell Valley Homes.
Jeni said living in housing which supported her care and rehabilitation ‘changed everything for me’ and credits the move to supported living there ‘as being key to her successful recovery’. Jeni recalls the day that changed her life with the utmost clarity.
The mother-of-two had been on a shopping trip to a supermarket in Winsford, Cheshire. “Overnight my life changed,” Jeni said.
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“I slipped on some fluid on the floor at a supermarket café. I had spinal injury, a disc came out and severely compressed, meaning three of the five nerve routes in my spine were damaged. “So for a long time I couldn’t walk properly without immense pain, I