A PARALYSED mum of two is staging a protest from her hospital bed in a desperate bid to have a revolutionary operation to ease her crippling back pain.

Madelaine Kater fears she will be forgotten if she returns home after being admitted to Southampton General Hospital with an abscess earlier this month.

"I cannot go home. Obviously I am bed-bound. I am very, very ill and I cannot look after myself let alone my children."

She has already suffered a setback while awaiting a revolutionary operation to ease her crippling back pain.

Last month the Daily Echo reported how Madelaine had become a prisoner in her own bedroom.

The 30-year-old spina bifida sufferer had not been downstairs since Christmas and was reliant on pain relief from a morphine pump to get her through each day.

In January, the mother of two was seen by a consultant at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, who assured her surgery would take place between four and eight weeks' time.

But four months later Madelaine is still waiting for her operation - as well as a house with disability ramps, handrails and a floor-lift.

Now Madelaine, who would love to be able to play with her sons Jordon, 10, and Kieran, 5, has suffered a further blow after suffering an abscess.

Madelaine, of Exford Avenue, Harefield, was admitted on May 4 and has spent the past fortnight receiving treatment for the problem, caused by an infection where she had been using her morphine pump.

Her mum Christina Kater said: "She has been really poorly, with a high temperature.

"I think it is out of order that she will just be sent home to wait for her operation. We have been told it could be several months before it happens - but that could be anything from three to six."

Single mum Madelaine has been recommended for a neuro-stimulator - a revolutionary permanent implant fitted to the spinal cord to relieve pain.

She said: "I have been waiting a year for this operation. I feel that if I get sent home I will not get the operation and I will be forgotten about."

A spokesman for the John Radcliffe Hospital confirmed the waiting time for the operation was currently between six and eight months but said all patients were given appointments according to clinical need.