A Woman Yawned So Hard, It Almost Killed Her

If you needed something new to worry about this week… yawning just made the list. Hayley Black, a 36-year-old mom in the UK, recently shared the terrifying story of how a simple morning yawn nearly ended her life. The incident happened back in 2016.

How a big yawn could paralyze, or even kill you

It all started around 5 a.m., when Hayley woke up to feed her newborn daughter, Amelia. After watching her baby yawn, Hayley instinctively did the same, tossing in a casual stretch for good measure. Then everything went sideways.

“I felt this immediate electric shock sensation go through half my body,” she said. Her arm locked midair, and she started experiencing what she described as seizure-like sensations. She knew right away something was seriously wrong.

Even her husband didn’t believe it

Her husband Ian initially brushed it off, but quickly changed course and called an ambulance. At the hospital, despite Hayley’s obvious pain, scans initially showed nothing. Medical staff assumed she was fine. But the pain kept intensifying, and she became paralyzed on her right side.

How did it paralyze her?

A more in-depth evaluation eventually revealed the horrifying truth: the force of her yawn had caused her C6 and C7 vertebrae to shoot forward into her spinal cord. She was given a 50/50 chance of walking again, or even surviving.

Rushed into surgery

Thankfully, emergency surgery was successful, but recovery was long and brutal. Hayley had to re-learn how to walk and was in a wheelchair for months. She now lives with permanent nerve damage, takes daily medication, and has developed fibromyalgia.

Paranoid it could happen again

Even today, she says any attempt to yawn triggers a wave of fear. “I can’t yawn without panic,” she said. “Every time I take a step [without medication], I get electrical shocks all up my spine and into my head.”

So the next time you feel a yawn coming on, maybe just… sip some water instead.