The S Club 7 singer feels blessed to be able to walk although she's warned by doctors she may never dance again following multiple operations to fix her back.
- Jan 5, 2023
AceShowbiz - Jo O'Meara has been informed by doctors she may never dance again after undergoing multiple back surgeries. The S Club 7 star has been told there may be permanent damage after she spent eight days in hospital in December and had an operation to remove part of a spinal disc after previously going under the knife in September in a bid to fix her back problems.
"Back surgery is so complex and every time they go in, they're just weakening my back. I was absolutely petrified. The surgeons said there was a very good chance of permanent damage to the legs and that I might never dance again," she told The Sun newspaper.
"I was thinking, 'Well that's me done then,' because standing up on stage and singing 'Reach' is kind of impossible if you can't move ... It is heartbreaking when you're told something like that. But the alternative was even worse."
The 43-year-old singer had previously experienced back problems in her 20s but had resisted the idea of having surgery to correct bulging discs in her spine - and instead replied on steroid injections to deal with the pain.
She was "fine" for many years before the problems returned in 2022 when she was exercising on a trampoline. Jo underwent surgery in September and went back under the knife in November before returning to hospital again in December after feeling as if she had been "shot in the bum."
After her third surgery, Jo is now recovering at her home in Essex, England and is now able to function without pain relief. She has been left with permanent damage to her right leg but feels grateful she is able to walk.
Jo concluded, "I used to moan like, 'Oh I've got to go out on a bleeding walk with the dogs again,' but now I look at it completely differently. I think, 'How lucky am I that I can go out and walk.' "
