Cork teacher suffers from 'the world's most painful condition' after classroom injury

Sophie Cole suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) – which is considered "the world's most painful condition" - after she was injured at work in 2022.

During the incident, her arm was slammed down onto a steel reinforced table, causing permanent nerve damage.

The rare syndrome has caused her left hand to be in constant pain and unable to use.

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Sophie described this pain as feeling like “someone forcibly holding her hand into an extremely hot fire while rubbing it back and forth over a really large cheese grater”.

The incident has left Sophie unable to drive, prepare food or shower independently and she has given up many hobbies that she used to enjoy.

According to Sophie, the incident resulted in her losing “life as she knew it”.

She said: "Complex regional pain syndrome is known as the world's most painful and incurable condition. It's a chronic pain disorder that affects your nervous system, and nothing at all can touch off my left hand. I suffer excruciating, burning pain, electric shocks, shooting pain. I scream with the pain daily.

"...I lost my independence. There are so many times when I rely on someone else to cut up my food or even shower me. I lost a lot of my social life, my ability to sleep and of course, the big one here because this is what we're campaigning for, I lost my income," she told the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork's Red FM.

Cork Beo reports that Sophie, who worked as an SNA in Cork, has been out of work since her injury, but insists that this is not due to the children she works with, but instead the “lack of access to multidisciplinary teams and services” in schools.

The Cork-native said that she has been receiving an illness benefit payment of €220 each week but could be at risk to lose this income.

On her GoFundMe page , a friend of hers wrote that she has been denied invalidity.

Although Sophie has appealed this, it may take up to 17 weeks, meaning Sophie will be without income.

"I was told that I was going out on leave and that was fine, and I was oblivious to it having an expiration date," she said. "I assumed when I was medically certified to be out of work due to the injury that I was on leave. Until I got a letter in the post, and it was stating that my sick leave was due to expire, so then I made some phone calls and rang around and discovered that I was only entitled to three months of leave.

"For three months I got my wage as usual, and then I moved to my sick leave day and I had never used a sick day, so I had my full sick leave entitlements, and then I went to half pay and then to the state €220."

The new GoFundMe page for Sophie aims to help cover her ongoing medical expenses, home adaptions and to look into the possibility of getting more treatments to help reduce her pain to a “somewhat tolerable level.”

The page reads: "Your generous contributions, no matter the size, will make a significant difference in Sophie’s life. Together, we can provide her with the necessary resources to manage her pain, regain some independence, and pursue treatment options that may help her in her recovery.

"Thank you for supporting Sophie Cole during this challenging time. Your kindness and compassion means the world to her."

Additionally, Sophie is urging the government to change the system to acknowledge the annual amount of injuries sustained by SNAs in schools. In an effort to bring attention to the problems, she launched her own social media campaign and has three demands of the state:

1. To provide immediate financial assistance to cover expenses relating to medical bills, therapy sessions and medicatio
2. To provide assault leave to teachers and SNAs for the duration of their medically certified leave
3. To establish a comprehensive support system for educators who have become victims of violence

To learn more about Sophie’s story, her Instagram page is available here.