A woman who thought she’d cricked her neck on a Disney World rollercoaster has avoided life-changing health problems — thanks to a supermarket pharmacy.
Loraine Hoar was experiencing severe headaches after flying home to Cornwall from Walt Disney World in Florida.
The 54-year-old said: “I thought I’d just cricked my neck at first on the rollercoaster, but the pain just kept getting worse and worse and continued when we got back to England.
Loraine told St Austell Asda pharmacy staff member Kelly Dennis about the really bad headaches she was having and, after head pharmacist Iuliana Sfarnoiu heard the symptoms, she was told to go straight to A&E at Treliske in Truro rather than buying painkillers.
It turned out the pain was coming from a torn artery in her head believed to have been caused when she twisted it on the Yeti rollercoaster ride.
Loraine, who had gone to Disney World to celebrate her grandson Noah's 10th birthday, said: “The doctors found that I had torn an artery and I could have had a stroke. I was put on medication and now I'm feeling so much better.
“The neurologist called me the luckiest person in the hospital.
“I can't thank Kelly and Iuliana enough for their advice. I was shocked and I met my husband Nige in the queue and said, ‘You’re going to have to take me to hospital, because they've told me to go’.”
Pharmacist Iuliana said: "Loraine came and asked Kelly for co-codamol for a bad headache and described that the pain was going down the back of her head and said that she felt dizzy. She explained that she did it on the rollercoaster.
"Because co-codamol can cause drowsiness, Kelly came to me for advice and told me what had happened. I was really concerned about Loraine feeling dizzy and was worried that she may have had a concussion and felt that she should go to A&E.”
Asda manager Sherran Bracey said the whole store was proud Luliana and Kelly.