RTE’s Ronan Collins has recalled the morning he woke up in bed to find his legs no longer worked.
The veteran DJ (64) had developed a cyst on his spine and found himself in consultation with medical staff at Beaumont Hospital during the summer.
"I was surrounded by pretty positive people," he told Ryan Tubridy on Friday's Late Late Show of the experience that led him to being a reluctant cast member on the new medical fly-on-the-wall series Trauma.
Collins said when he discovered his leg paralysis was caused by a spinal cyst, it was a “scary” moment but he quickly decided not to give into his condition and went for surgery.
The grandfather-of-two commended the medical team who diagnosed him and treated him over the course of the weekend. Now back to work, he said he still has trouble with his legs, energy levels and balance but will ultimately make a full recovery.
Trauma shows him being taken to Beaumont Hospital in the middle of the night, the neurotrauma team scanning his body and discovering he required immediate surgery.
It was the “speedy action” of medics, he said, that saved him from permanent paralysis.
The series also features the Gaelic footballer Anne-Marie Murphy, who had to be taken to St Vincent’s University Hospital by her fiance. The 31-year-old had been playing in the semi-final of the Dublin Ladies senior championship when a fall left her unconscious and unable to move her back when she woke.
Each episode follows the progress of several patients from admission to hospital to as close to the end of their medical treatment as possible, with patients and their families reflecting on their experiences. Producers said they have also interviewed staff, who talk about working in such “an adrenaline-fuelled environment”.
Ronan Collins's story features in the first episode of Trauma, on October 12th at 9.30pm on RTÉ2
