'I survived balcony fall but grieve my old life'

A mum who spent three weeks in a coma after falling out of a balcony window on holiday said she is "grieving" life before her brain injury.

Raina Heverin, 44, from Broadgreen, in Liverpool, was a "busy", "active" mum-of-two, juggling running two businesses, with raising two young children, and keeping active everyday.

But during what was meant to be a long weekend in Paris in April 2025, Raina fell out of a third floor balcony window while sleepwalking. She was in a coma for three weeks and woke up with a life-changing brain injury.

"I'm grieving still my whole life," Raina said. "There's loads of changes to adapting to brain injury. But I'm definitely grieving at the moment."

Before her accident, Raina used to exercise every day but now just walking takes enormous effort.

After recently embarking on a 5km walking challenge - walking 1km a day for five days to raise money for charity - Raina spoke to North West Tonight about the accident which changed her life.

"Before the injury I was very independent," Raina said.

"I was a mum, I was an entrepreneur, I had two businesses. I was juggling a lot of things."

"I love being a mum, I loved taking them to school and just everyday things like asking them, how their day was, putting them to bed, giving them cuddles, all the normal stuff."

Raina said a doctor in Paris told her that it was her fitness that saved her life.

"I used to cycle quite a lot, run, lift weights, do burpees and classes. I swear, while I hate them, they saved my life," she recalled. "He said that if I wasn't so fit I wouldn't have survived."

On the day of the accident Raina said she had been out walking through Paris and been to a restaurant before returning to the holiday house she was staying at with her brother and sister-in-law.

Later that night she went upstairs to bed in a room at the back of the house, with a Juliet balcony.

"I was very disoriented, I hadn't slept the night before," Raina recalled.

"There was a Juliet balcony in the room. I think I was sleep walking, maybe I was disorientated.

"I fell out of the window...three stories into the courtyard."

Raina was found in the early hours of the morning by her brother, who discovered her lying "as if asleep" in the courtyard below the window.

"He thought that I was sleeping at first because I looked quite peaceful," she said.

"Then he realised."

Raina was rushed to hospital, where she was in a coma for three weeks.

"My brother and sister-in-law had to go to a police station to be questioned. And then they came to the hospital.

"My brother had to make a phone call to my husband, Michael, and my parents. He was very traumatised.

"For me, I kind of feel like I got away with not having to deal with it. Now I have to, but I didn't go through the trauma at the beginning."

Raina said the first thing she remembered after the accident, was opening her eyes to her husband reading to her.

"I think I was just disorientated and disillusioned a bit, because I could move my legs I thought I'd easily walk.

"But I didn't realise everything that goes into it. I thought I'd be back at work in six weeks. You take everything for granted."

She was later diagnosed with ataxia, a neurological condition affecting coordination and muscle movement and had a bleed on a part of her brain.

She also had symptoms of polytrauma, a condition which describes multiple traumatic injuries sustained to a person's body and organ systems.

After five months in Broadgreen Hospital, she moved to a specialist brain injury unit, where she has lived since November.

"Everything is difficult because I have tremors in my hands," she said.

"Even putting on make up or having a cup of coffee. Just every day things you take for granted are so difficult."

But Raina said she is the kind of person who likes to keep busy and challenge herself - leading her to take on a 5km walking challenge, to raise money for The Brain Charity.

The Brain Charity is a Liverpool-based organisation helping people affected by all forms of neurological conditions, across England and Wales.

"I'm definitely still grieving but my brain never stops ticking so I like to set myself challenges," she said.

Raina has also written a children's book about brain injuries - and plans on writing a second, about functions of the brain.

"I've written a kids book to help children understand their brain injury," she said.

"I wrote it for my children, I wanted them to understand my brain injury and why I am the way I am.

"The brain is so important, it's the only organ we've got that can't be transplanted."

Raina said she wants to do more challenges in the future, including walking 5km in one day.

"Watch this space," she said.

Speaking to others in her position, Raina added: "Don't give up. There's life to live and you've been through the worst part of it.

"If you work hard and you try, you'll get somewhere closer to who you used to be."

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