THE life of a Swindon carer changed forever after a serious car accident left her with a permanent back injury, and she now finds herself helping the next generation of Chinese children.

Sarah Robins was 22 when the car she was in was hit from behind while waiting at a roundabout during the morning commute to her job as a carer for terminal cancer patients.

The force of the impact caused injuries to her wrist, neck and lower back which were so agonising that she had to leave her job and abandon her dream of becoming a paediatric nurse.

Three years after the accident she was diagnosed with sacroiliitis, an inflammation of a joint located in the lower back, which means she has limited movement in her neck.

It causes pain when she sits down, drives, or stands for a long period of time.

Sarah said: “The injuries caused by the accident meant that I was unable to carry out my job properly, as day-to-day tasks became extremely painful and more time consuming.

“Eventually I had to leave my job as a carer which was devastating as I loved the role.

“Clearly, I couldn’t provide patients with the highest level of care as I was struggling with the physical tasks like lifting them or helping them to move.

“In the end, I had to change my profession and started working for a charity.”

Sarah’s condition required her to undergo injections of anaesthetic and steroids directly in to her spine as well as private physiotherapy treatment.

Sadly, none of the treatments could fully resolve her issues and it was confirmed that her symptoms were permanent.

She received £17,000 in compensation after solicitors from Your Legal Friend brought a successful case against the careless driver who caused the crash.

She now works as a teacher in China and plans to study a PGCE in Primary Education at the Institute of Education in London in September 2018.

Sarah, now 27, said: “I continue to be in agony with significant flare-ups in my lower back, it’s become so debilitating and affects every area of my life.

“Once I got stuck in a traffic jam for five hours.

“The resulting pain meant I had to take a week off work and was prescribed Valium because of its intensity.

“Even though I’m only young, I’m always expecting my back ‘to go’ at any minute so it plays on my mind all the time.

“Simple things that I used to love like going to the cinema aren’t possible any more as I simply can’t sit through a film for that long.

“My partner and I visited Indonesia in 2015 and we attempted to hike Mount Rinjani but my back started playing up again.

"We ended up attending an easier trek with a group of pensioners so that I could complete it. Things like that really put my injury into perspective.

“I have spent thousands of pounds on a new mattress and new bed to try and improve the quality of my sleep, but even that doesn’t work. It leaves me exhausted.

“I used to enjoy going to the gym and going to boxercise classes but now I can’t exercise as much. The whole situation sometimes gets me down, but I try my best to get on.

“Although I still have my difficult days, I’m excited to have a fresh start.”