A simple morning yawn turned into a life-altering medical emergency for 36-year-old Hayley Black, a mother of two from the United Kingdom who suffered a devastating spinal injury during what doctors later classified as an extraordinary “freak accident.”
The incident occurred in 2016 while Black was caring for her newborn daughter, Amelia, during an early morning feeding at 5 AM. As her baby yawned while waiting to be fed, the natural contagious effect of yawning prompted Black to yawn as well. This reflexive response would change her life forever.
What followed was anything but ordinary. Black immediately experienced what she described as an “electric shock” sensation coursing through half her body, causing her to freeze mid-motion.
“My arm got stuck in the air and I was having these electric spark sensations,” she explained in a viral TikTok video that recently brought renewed attention to her harrowing experience. “It was like having a seizure down half of my body. I knew instantly something was dreadfully wrong.”
Emergency responders rushed Black to the hospital, where medical staff secured her head with stabilizing blocks during what she called an “excruciatingly painful” ambulance ride. Despite her obvious distress, initial medical scans failed to reveal the severity of her condition, leaving both patient and doctors baffled.
The night that followed became a nightmare of unrelieved agony. “I was screaming in pain all night and I had the gas and air. I was trying to hit myself in the head to try to knock myself out because I was in so much pain,” Black recalled.
Her persistent symptoms met with skepticism from hospital staff who struggled to reconcile her intense pain with seemingly normal test results. “Nobody was listening to me, and I was like, ‘Something is seriously wrong.’ The nurses were getting frustrated with me and said, ‘There’s nothing on the scans, you’re okay.'”
Black’s determination to advocate for herself ultimately proved crucial. Additional testing finally revealed the truth: she was completely paralyzed on the right side of her body. Medical professionals discovered that the C6 and C7 sections of her spine at the base of her neck had “shot forward” during her powerful yawn, causing the catastrophic injury.
The diagnosis led to emergency surgery that doctors warned carried significant risks. With her oxygen levels dangerously low, medical staff gave Black’s mother sobering odds – a “50/50” chance of survival for what they termed a highly dangerous procedure.
Fortunately, Black survived the operation, though her recovery journey has been far from simple. Nearly a decade later, she continues to battle severe nerve pain and fibromyalgia as lasting consequences of that fateful morning yawn.
Rather than dwelling on the tragedy, Black has found meaning in her experience. “The one thing I have taken from it is to be grateful for the small,” she reflected. “Being chronically ill now because of it means I am so grateful for the good days, for the small moments, for being able to walk and for being here with my children and husband.”
Her story recently resurfaced on social media in 2025 and has captivated viewers worldwide who are surprised by the reality that such an ordinary human reflex could result in such extraordinary consequences.