Monique Jeffrey was lying in bed checking emails on her phone early one morning in 2011, when she suddenly sneezed and her neck jolted forward.
As she sneezed, her C1 and C2 vertebrae collapsed and her chin fell onto her shoulder, leaving her hunched over in agonizing pain.
Ouch!
She was placed in a neck traction — a manual device that immobilizes the neck muscles and allows them to heal — for 14 weeks and made a full recovery!
But just three weeks ago, she injured her neck again.
Jeffrey tells the New York Post, “I was at work and I had a bit of a stiff neck. Nothing awful, it was just a little bit sore,” she said.
“I was actually joking around with some colleagues because they were making some inappropriate jokes about how I may have hurt my neck, and I threw my head back and did it again. My chin was pulled across to the right, so they called an ambulance and now I’m in a neck halo.”
The metal device screws into the skull and stops the wearer from moving their head.
“I can lie down but I sleep sitting up in a special bed. The halo completely supports my head and my neck.
After the halo is removed, Jeffrey will undergo months of rehab and physical therapy to strengthen the muscles in her neck. If that isn’t successful, she may require surgery to “fuse” the C1 and C2 vertebrae together so they can no longer collapse.
Her sister set up an online fundraising page ,called the "Oops I did it again" Fund, to help pay for the mounting medical bills and so far $8,000 has been raised!