BREAKING her neck in a motorcycle accident which left her partner paralysed with a broken back, proved to be a life changing experience for mother of two Hayley McKune.
First of all she tied the knot with her policeman partner James after he proposed in the hospital where they were being treated for their horrific injuries after being knocked off their motorcycle by a car.
Now Hayley, 37, from Callands, Warrington, has launched her own holistic therapy business “Skin and Tonic” to help others who have suffered disfiguring injuries.
She was made redundant from her job at a call centre after the accident and was relying on benefits for the first time her life.
“I realised that with my commitments at home, which were now greater than they had ever been, that I couldn’t return to work following my previous career path. James had very serious injuries, which doctors gave very little hope of being able to heal and it was at this time I became interested in holistic and alternative therapies to see if there was any way in which I could help with his recovery. I studied the prospectus at local colleges, and from this began a series of intensive and in depth courses in numerous areas of Holistic therapies.
“I soon discovered that I had a passion for this and knew I had found my new career path. To broaden my skills base, I also completed courses in Beauty therapy, and it was when I had followed on from this to a course teaching spray tanning that I had a very upsetting and life changing experience.
“As part of the course students had to spray tan each other. I had mine without any problem and expected to carry it out on the student who had just successfully given me mine. But she refused to let me tan her and would not undress to allow me to complete the tan. After a lengthy talk and a lot of coaxing I discovered that it was due to a disfigurement following a serious illness. I reassured her that this was not a problem, explaining that for me, due to the life experiences, there was nothing that I would not be able to deal with or see as being different from the norm. It seemed such a small thing – a tanning treatment, yet she was overjoyed to have had something that made her feel so good. It was her reaction that touched and affected me so deeply.”
Hayley soon discovered that there were many disabled people who wanted to benefit from treatments, giving her the confidence to launch her own business.
Hayley said she would like to thank all of those who had helped her over the last two years to get back into the workplace in her new career, such as Warrington Disability Partnership, Warrington Carers Centre, In Biz and Warrington Employmobility Fund.
Now, after working with charities she has opened her own therapy room at Seventh Heaven salon in Penketh.
