Cramlington woman Melanie Hartshorn can finally return to Cramlington after world-first surgery in Spain

The 33-year-old has been in Barcelona since October for two rounds of surgery to stabilise her skull, neck, and spine.

She has an extreme form of the genetic condition Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that severely weakens her connective tissue but the two life-saving procedures, which are not approved in the UK, are successfully preventing painful dislocations.

Melanie, of Sea View Villas, said: “I am so grateful to Dr Gilete and the team for being the only ones in the world willing to take on such risky and revolutionary surgeries to attempt to save my life.

“I still have a lot of recovering to do and I have to be careful and try to do everything possible to aid strong bone fusion, such as the bone injections which I have to buy privately.”

Melanie is now much more mobile and is able to leave the apartment she has been staying in.

She has been able to go to the beach and hopes to visit the zoo before her flight home on Saturday.

Writing on her Gofundme page, she said: “Today I did something I’ve not managed to do for many, many years – I lay on the beach!

"It was a beautiful, sunny day, so we got a taxi to the beach and I got lifted onto a blanket on the sand and sunbathed.

“It was a bit of a mission at first as the bar wouldn’t let us use a sunbed, but we made it work thanks to some friendly Americans who lifted me like I weighed nothing at all.”

But despite her life returning to some form of normality, Melanie remains worried about how she will afford the cost of her surgeries and recovery.

In February, we reported how her mum Molly was concerned she might have to sell the family home in order to meet the £165,000 overall bill. Just over £120,000 has been raised so far.

Melanie explained: “We still have a lot of debt to pay off to cover all the additional costs incurred from the complications I suffered, so the fundraising continues.”

Melanie is hosting a ball in Gosforth on April 1. For ticket details or to donate, go to melanies-mission-eds.org.uk