A tangle of wires, tubes, and machines surrounds Trudi Burgess in a hospital bed, a stark testament to the vicious assault she endured at the hands of her boyfriend, which left her paralyzed.
This gut-wrenching image, shared by her family, captures the critical moment when doctors were racing to save her life.
The 57-year-old, who once taught in classrooms, underwent a grueling nine-hour surgery to stabilize her spine after Robert Easom, 56, violently attacked her, snapping her neck in a fit of rage when she declared her decision to leave him following prolonged domestic abuse.
She endured three months in intensive care at The Royal Preston Hospital, where medical staff worried she might never be able to breathe on her own again.
Despite the odds, Ms. Burgess has shown extraordinary resilience, and in the upcoming months, she is expected to transition out of the spinal injuries unit where she has been receiving intensive rehabilitation.
Her family has launched a GoFundMe campaign, seeking financial support to cover the costs of her continued care.
Her son, Jackson, said: ‘Our goal is to make sure the rest of her life is as safe, dignified, and stable as possible.
‘When she leaves hospital, she will need a fully accessible home, specialist equipment, a powered wheelchair, a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, ongoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and 24-hour care for the rest of her life.
‘She’ll need help with every part of daily living – getting out of bed, washing, dressing, eating, and moving safely.
‘We’re hugely grateful that we still have our mum. We just want to make the rest of her life as comfortable, safe, and connected as possible.’
Trudi Burgess, 57, needed emergency surgery and spent three months in intensive care after being paralysed by her lover Robert Easom, 56
Easom is facing life in jail after being convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent
The couple had been together for eight years but Easom was abusive and controlling and attacked Ms Burgess when she threatened to leave him
Trudi, seen here with her family, now needs a fully accessible home, specialist equipment, and a wheelchair
So far more than £22,000 has been donated in less than 24 hours.
Yesterday Easom, a landscape gardener, was convicted of deliberately breaking Ms Burgess’s neck at Preston Crown Court.
A jury took just 27 minutes to find him guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent. He previously pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and controlling and coercive behaviour.
He is facing life in jail when he is sentenced in February.
Ms Burgess described her injuries when her video-recorded evidence was played to the jury during the four-day trial last week.
‘I feel nothing from my chest down,’ she said. ‘I have neuropathic pain which makes me feel like I cannot breathe.’
She described her legs as being ‘like a cold cement slab’ pulling her down and her body feeling like it is being constrained by a suit of armour ‘two sizes too small’.
‘I can feel my neck, and my arms are paralysed in part, but I can move them, and I’ve been working hard at that,’ she added.
‘My hands, unfortunately, are pretty much numb, and I don’t have finger flexion, so I can’t pick anything up, or move them, or hold anything, or do anything with them.’
The court heard Ms Burgess was ’emotionally vulnerable’ and still grieving the loss of her husband Craig (pictured) when she met Easom eight years ago
Ms Burgess was a successful singer who performed at legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott’s in London
Despite her terrible situation, Ms Burgess insisted she still had ‘hope’ for the future.
‘You’ve got to hold on to the hope, because he’s basically taken away every pleasure that I have, particularly playing with my granddaughter.
‘I can’t make cookies with her, I can’t turn the pages of a book, so, obviously, I’m devastated, my life’s been pretty much ruined.
‘I’m devastated for my children.’
The court heard Ms Burgess was grieving the death of her husband, Craig, from a brain tumour and was ‘emotionally vulnerable’ when she met Easom, who was her sister’s gardener, in 2017.
Initially their relationship was loving and passionate, but over time Easom became abusive, violent and controlling.
By February 17 this year Ms Burgess had had enough and ‘finally plucked up the courage to leave’.
She stayed the night at Easom’s home, in Chipping, in the Ribble Valley, near Chorley, and was drinking a cup of tea in bed the following morning when Easom asked her if she was making cottage pie for dinner, which was her usual Monday routine.
She replied, telling him she would not be cooking for him and the relationship was over.
But, Ms Magill said, Easom, who has three children from a previous relationship, including a son who coincidentally was paralysed in a car accident, flew into a ‘blind’ and ‘uncontrollable’ rage.
‘He got hold of my head, and pushed it with both his hands down, it felt like it just folded in(to) my chest,’ a sobbing Ms Burgess said in video evidence played to the jury .
‘I’ve never felt anything like it, I felt my neck break, and I started to feel that I was going numb.
‘I think I screamed, but …I had no voice, he just kept folding my head in and in and in.
‘I kept thinking, ‘’He’s gonna stop now,’’ and, ‘’I’m gonna die.’’
‘He kept doing it, and all the while he was going, “Shut the f*** up, f***ing shut up, I’ll shut you up, stop talking, stop talking.
‘I was trying to say, “You’re killing me,” (but) I couldn’t speak. I thought I was about to die.’
Afterwards Ms Burgess told Easom: ‘Oh my God, I can’t feel anything in my body, you’ve ruined both our lives.’
Initially, he didn’t believe she was hurt, but after she begged him to call an ambulance he eventually dialled 999, telling the operator: ‘She’s fallen out of bed and just landed in a bad way really.’
He also lied to police saying the couple had been involved in a ‘playfight that went wrong’.
Easom, of Chipping, near Chorley, Lancashire, will be sentenced on February 27.
