Karolyn’s cure 'I CAN FINALLY WALK AGAIN'

Wracked with pain, the Kiwi went in search of treatment in India

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

For years, Feilding mum of six Karolyn Carroll lived a life dictated by hip and back pain so severe, she relied on copious amounts of opioids and needed a wheelchair to leave the house.

That was until December last year when, desperate for relief and after being declined for surgical intervention in New Zealand, she travelled to India for a robotic-assisted spinal fusion and decompression operation.

In Wellington, she was told a spinal fusion would cost $85,000, involve cutting through her abdominal and back muscles, and require a lengthy recovery period.

In India, the surgery cost just $13,000 and remarkably, just 48 hours after the operation, Karolyn was walking the hospital hallways and even climbing stairs, something she hadn't done in more than 18 months.

With her pain drastically reduced, she flew home just six days after surgery, astounding her family on New Year's Day by walking through the door.

"My son did a double take," Karolyn recalls. "He said, 'Mum, what are you doing? Sit down.' And I just replied, 'No, I can walk!'"

It's a moment she'll never forget. Before the surgery, Karolyn was taking up to 40 painkillers a day, including high doses of morphine just to take the edge off.