Woman knocked off mobility scooter by huge wave amid brutal gales across UK
A woman was knocked off her mobility scooter when a huge wave crashed over a wall at a marina.
Tina Thomas, 44, was nearly swept out to sea as wind speeds rocketed along coastlines across the UK on the weekend. Tina was out with her husband Ashley and their dog Apollo when, out of nowhere, a huge wave washed up and threw her from her seat. A member of the public took a video of the incident and it has since been shared on TikTok.
Tina said the water was choppy but didn't appear to be threatening to wash over the walkway. Speaking to Wales Online, Tina said: "Last Christmas I lost my friend Rachel after she drowned in a car accident. As the wave hit and I was completely submerged underwater my first thought was 'I'm going to drown like Rachel'."
Tina and Ashley slammed unpleasant comments they've received online (Tina Thomas)Tina added: "I thought I have got to keep my head up. As long as I keep my head I will be alright - anything else can be fixed. So then the wave receded but then a couple of seconds later I got drenched again and it was very scary. I saw my husband's scooter under another wave and I didn't know if he was alive to be honest. People quickly gathered round me and I asked if they knew where my husband was. Luckily I couldn't have chosen a better day because there were three off duty doctors down there."
Tina has what is known as functional neurological disorder or FND. This is where there is a problem in how the brain receives and sends information to the rest of the body. Tina also gets seizures from FND. "It's a condition where the brain gets confused and it doesn't send the right signals to the body," Tina said.
Gales, snow and rain to batter country today with 80mph wind gusts
"So although your legs and arms work physically, because your brain has got the issue it stops you from walking. Not everybody has issues with walking. There's so many symptoms. It's like an umbrella disorder. I want to raise awareness about it because a lot of people in the medical profession don't know about it."
Both Tina and Ashley's mobility scooters were damaged by the wave and the pair hope they will be able to claim on their insurance because they are incredibly expensive. "I'm paying for it monthly, but overall it's going to cost about £5,000," she said. "My husband's cost about two and a half grand in total. It's quite expensive."
Ashley added: "What's frustrating is that I have only just got my mobility scooter back because it was stolen in June." The video of what happened to Tina was shared on social media.
She said: "A lot of people have been making fun of me to be honest. They are basically saying that I deserved it. Saying that I should have died and that I should have been swept out to sea. Someone said they were gutted the video stopped because they wanted to see me swept out to sea."
"The reason I am telling my story is because I want to make it clear to people that they need to be careful around waves like that because it can seem quite calm but then come out of nowhere. A man from the RNLI explained how they can happen."
Ashley is angry about the online abuse his wife has been getting. "They need to get a life," he said. "Would they laugh if it happened to a member of their family? If people want to be like that then I will leave them to it, karma will come to them."
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