Edinburgh taxi driver says her career as a cabbie was ruined after accident
| Published date | 30 June 2022 |
| Publication title | EdinburghLive (Scotland) |
However, a crash in 2011 brought the 48-year-old's career to an agonising end, causing her to spiral into a "big black hole" as she suffered both mental and physical health issues.
Adele said: "I suffered with back pain on and off since I was 15. I tried different things to manage and had massages three times a week to ease the pain and help me keep my job as a taxi driver in Edinburgh. I'd worked really hard to become a black cab driver – learning the routes, taking the exams, buying my cab – and I loved it. Whether it was the Saturday night or Monday morning crowd, the banter in the cab was always great fun.
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"Until the day in 2011 when someone ran their car into the back of my taxi. After that, the pain became so much worse. I kept working, but my back was deteriorating. Sitting still was the worst thing for it. One day it was unbearable, I was in tears and knew that this was it for my career.
"24/7 pain took everything away from me – my livelihood, having fun with the kids, going to concerts with my wife, nights out with the girls, everything.
"I have severe nerve damage in my back, legs and hips and arthritis in my spine. I spent all of my savings on specialists, chiropractors, alternative medicine, massage and even an anatomist. Nothing worked. The pain was so unrelenting I didn't even care about my health. I couldn't worry about taking huge amounts of medication just to get through the day. My liver became damaged because of all the tablets I had to take. I put a lot of faith in doctors fixing my pain, but nothing worked; I remember pleading with a doctor that I was 39 and didn't want to go home with a Zimmer frame."
In a bid to bring their mum out of her depression, Adele's children had booked her onto a comedy course, which even saw her go on to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe.
However, despite the "exciting experience", the side effects and chronic pain again managed to take over, with everything coming to a head while performing at a local comedy club.
Adele said: "In an attempt to try and drag myself out of the big black hole I was in, I agreed to...
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