A MOTHER-OF-ONE has received a six figure payout after an anaesthetist wrenched her jaw open during a routine operation - leaving her unable to open her mouth wider than 2cm for five years.

Amanda Walker lived on a diet of soup and bananas, had difficulty talking and laughing and was in constant pain after a doctor used excessive force to administer breathing aparatus down her throat and over her mouth - causing her to suffer a dislocated jaw.

A facial surgeon who discovered what had happened to her during an MRI scan described the injuries as being consistent with a "car crash victim".

The 48-year-old had been admitted to Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust Hospital just days before Christmas in December 2010 for a routine but emotional procedure to clear her womb after she devastatingly miscarried twins.

But rather than being sent home to deal with the emotional trauma of losing her twins, Amanda, from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, had a much more difficult journey to face - a five-year stressful battle against the NHS, which would cost her her job, her marriage and at times, her sanity.

Ms Walker has now decided to speak out to make sure something like this never happens again after finally winning her fight for compensation - a figure she described as between £100,000 and £400,000 - and a written apology from the hospital.

The now-single mum, who used to work in marketing and PR, said: "It turned out that during the operation I had not been given enough anaesthetic so I started to come around mid-procedure.

"In her panic to rectify the situation the anaesthetist used a Laryngeal mask - a medical device that keeps a patient's airway open during anaesthesia or unconsciousness - designed for a 25 stone man, forcing it down my throat."

Ms Walker, who has an 11-year-old son named Louis, at first did not realise the severity of the situation.

She said: "I was in pain around my jaw and throat but I thought that must be normal. In the immediate aftermath of the operation I was taking ibuprofen so that masked some of the pain.

"Days later I knew that it wasn't right. I was still in a lot of pain. But at that point I didn't even connect the pain in my jaw with the operation. It was only when I went to see my dentist and I was told the amount of damage that I started to put two and two together.

"I was in total shock to think this could have happened."

Ms Walker's dentist told her her jaw was misaligned and that damage had been caused to muscles, tendons and ligaments around the jaw.

Ms Walker, who has since split from her husband, then embarked on a five year journey to rectify the problem.

Her treatment began in April 2011 when her jaw was drilled and forcefully flushed out to try and align the joints - but this only worked on her left-hand side.

She had the same procedure in August of that year but again it did not work.

The following month she had open surgery to shave away bone on the right side of her jaw, but again this did not work.

In the meantime, Ms Walker was in immense pain and was only able to open her jaw a tiny 20mm - if she tried to move it any more than that pain would shoot through her face.

The mum-of-one said: "My diet became very boring. I lost weight as I couldn't chew anything, I lived on a diet of yogurt and juice for breakfast, soup for lunch and mashed potato for dinner.

"The thing I missed most was steak."

The pain meant she never returned to work after being a stay-at-home mum for the past five years.

During this time, the hospital were refusing to admit liability for the damage caused, saying they had not used excessive force, and that the injuries had happened as a result of a previous undiagnosed condition with her jaw.

But Ms Walker knew this was not the case and instructed expert medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate.

In May last year Ms Walker had a partial titanium jaw replacement at Bradford Royal Infirmary, West Yorks.

The titanium prothetics are only made by one company in the world, in Florida, America.

And although she is now on the road to recovery she got worse before she got better as she went through seven months of recovery hell.

She said: "In that time I got depressed as my face was paralysed, my head was shaved and I was in constant pain.

"That was a very dark time for me. It hit me very hard. I could not look after my son and my mum had to move in with me as I needed round-the-clock care.

"I could not walk or eat. It took me until Christmas before I started to feel well again."

Ms Walker has still not regained full feeling in her face as her right eyebrow remains paralysed, although doctors are hopeful this will come back in future.

She has a scar which runs from under her left ear right up into her hairline where she had 80 stitches to sew her back up.

She also has to exercise her jaw for 30 minutes every day. She will have to do this for the rest of her life.

However, the procedure does not last forever and it is expected she will have to go through the operation again in the future - something she fears with dread.

But she was finally happy that it was over when she received a letter from the hospital just a few weeks ago saying they were sorry for what happened to her.

She said: "This, for me, was what mattered most. I felt joy inside when they finally said sorry, that they knew it was their fault. I want to frame that letter."

And now, as Ms Walker looks to the future, she said: "I am now wanting to run my own business as a beautician. I don't want to go back to my old life, I want to have a stress-free life, enjoying every moment with my son.

"I can now eat and laugh normally and it feels wonderful. I ate a sirloin steak when I finally recovered. It was delicious.

"But I have not had soup since. I don't think I could eat soup ever again.

"What is important for me now is that nothing like this happens again. That amount of force was extremely unnecessary.

"What if that were to happen to a child? It doesn't ever bear thinking about."

Ross McWilliams, an expert medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, who represented Amanda, said: "Amanda has had an extremely difficult time over the last five years. She went into the hospital at a very distressing time for her, shortly after a miscarriage, and the last thing she expected following the procedure was to be enduring years of agonising pain in her jaw.

"She is determined that the Trust and staff at the hospital learn from what happened to her. She was left in agonising pain that completely turned her life upside-down and she needed extensive facial surgery to correct the problems she suffered as a result of her dislocated jaw.

"Amanda is aware that there she is likely to need further surgery in the future, which is obviously causing her a great deal of anxiety.

"We are glad that the Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust has finally admitted liability for the injuries Amanda suffered and agreed a settlement with her."

No disciplinary procedure was ever brought for the anaesthetist reponsible for the damage.

Dr David Scullion, Medical Director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The Trust is pleased that an agreement has been reached. We have apologised to Ms Walker for the impact this injury has had on her, and I would like to reiterate that apology now.

"We conducted an investigation into Ms Walker's care with us in 2010 and want to give assurance that we have learned all we can from this incident."