Woman Falls Two Stories From Paris Balcony While Sleepwalking

Raina Heverin, 44, and mother to two children, woke up with injuries that changed her life forever after sleepwalking off a balcony during a holiday in Paris. She opened a window beside a Juliet balcony one early morning on April 26 last year and fell two storeys into the courtyard below. Her brother discovered her lying motionless on the ground hours later. He found her there because she had not gone for a morning run as he initially thought, despite her shoes remaining inside the room and the window left open.

The accident happened after she swapped bedrooms with her brother and sister-in-law at their townhouse in the French city. She moved to the quieter room at the back of the property because traffic noise outside her original front-facing bedroom kept her awake all night. They had spent the day walking around Paris enjoying food and sightseeing before heading back to the apartment around midnight. Ms Heverin remembers nothing after that moment, leading her to believe she was sleepwalking when she fell.

Her brother called an ambulance with help from a neighbor since the couple did not speak French. She arrived at the hospital with a bleed on the brain, a punctured lung, and broken hips, arms, and ribs. She remained unconscious in a coma for three weeks before slowly waking up. Ms Heverin noted that if her brother had found her a few hours later, she definitely would not be here today.

Doctors in France told her family that her physical fitness helped save her life. Before the accident, this active mother ran two businesses while raising Cian, 10, and Aliyah, eight. She exercised every day, regularly running 10km, cycling, lifting weights, and attending fitness classes. After spending two months in a hospital in France, she returned to Britain for more treatment at Whiston Hospital and Broadgreen Hospital. She moved into a specialist brain injury rehabilitation unit in November following her discharge.

She was diagnosed with ataxia, a neurological condition that affects balance, coordination, and muscle movement. Now she struggles to do normal things like putting on mascara or holding a cup of coffee without trembling. Her hands, body, and throat all suffer from tremors that make simple tasks difficult. Putting make-up on takes her much longer now because she had to re-learn how to perform everything daily.

Her first memories after waking from the coma involved seeing her husband Michael sitting beside her reading aloud to her. She remembered a bit of that time but felt very disoriented upon regaining consciousness. The couple was in disbelief and found the situation really horrible at first. A neighbor helped them get medical aid quickly which proved critical for her survival.

Ms Heverin confessed she had no idea what had actually happened until the world shifted beneath her feet. She admits to grieving the old life while walking through periods of happiness and sadness at once. One moment she feels lucky, the next unlucky, stuck in a fog that makes 2025 feel like four months ago when it was already long gone. While she lay in hospital, the rest of the world kept turning without her. Now she has written a children's book to help Cian and Aliyah understand her brain injury and why their mother changed so much. She also raised more than £4,000 for Liverpool-based The Brain Charity by completing a three-mile walking challenge. Ms Heverin walked 40 laps of her garden over four days while friends and relatives cheered her on from the sidelines. Her children held up a banner to show support as she pushed forward every step of the way. She said it feels like a massive achievement because she knows the future can only get better from here. When asked what advice she would give to others in rehabilitation, Ms Heverin told them not to give up and keep going no matter how hard it gets. You will have some bad days, but you are also guaranteed to have good ones too if you persist. There is a life that is worth living despite all the changes and scars we carry with us.