It happened on 28 August 2008 at 8.28am. Everything after that is a bit of a blur, but the moment the accident happened will be stuck in my memory forever.
As a chronic migraine sufferer I've lived with pain since I was a small child. With the help of sub-occipital electrodes and an implanted pulse generator (IPG implant) I can now manage my daily pain and rely less on heavy medications.
September 23, 2006 was a beautiful, still, sunny autumn day.I was in the UK to visit my elderly mother and other family members and had taken the train to London to visit a friend.
Before my accident, about six years ago, I worked at a prestige car dealership in Brisbane. This work was physically demanding as well as being quite social. We all had to get on well as it could be quite a pressured environment and humour often kept us going.
My injury happened over two days – August 30-31, 2001 – when I was asked to reorganise the office's new filing system.
That Friday in June 1990 began like any other Friday – two adults, three teenagers, family pets, all heading out. I was totally unaware that this was the day "Super Mum" would die and life as I knew it would be over.
I injured my neck in 1993 while attending a Scout Jamboree in Canada as a carer for a child with cerebral palsy.My pain symptoms didn't really show up until 1997 when I started getting lots of neck and arm pain. 
6 when I was 17. Unrelated to any incident, I began to experience extreme back pain. I later discovered it was a degenerative disease with no cure, but at the time I thought it could just be 'fixed'.
It was during a long jump attempt at my school's athletics try-outs when I was nine that I first hurt myself.As usual, I ran and jumped but as I hit the sand I felt pain in what I thought was my ankle.
I'd survived the traumas of a major motor car accident, the ignominity of a prostatectomy, and the despair and exasperation of three separate cancers and their harsh therapies, but nothing had prepared me for the greatest challenge of my life, dealing with chronic pain
I was nine years old when I damaged the ligaments in my left leg in a hurdling accident.After a year of treatment my leg hadn't healed – in fact the pain had worsened and I was diagnosed with chronic regional pain syndrome. 
My problems started in the early 1980s with the introduction of computers in most public service departments.In 1986,
I was an advisory teacher when I suffered a spinal injury in 2007 that landed me in a Brisbane hospital emergency department.Thanks to a neurosurgeon, I regained the use of my left leg and the crushing pain eased. 
My first taste of pain and injury was when I was only three years old.We had a car accident and I had my lower lumbar joints damaged as well as whiplash injuries to my neck. No one knew this at the time, though, and by the time I was nine I was having X-rays on my back to find out why I was in so much pain.
I first incurred a serious back injury at work in 1985. It was not able to be evidence-based for five years (at the time of surgery).
In 1962 at the age of 21, Renée was involved in a serious car accident that kept her in an English hospital - in a 40-bed geriatric ward - for nearly two years.
Breast cancer is a diagnosis heard all too often these days at 13,000 diagnoses a year in Australia.
Harry Perkins, son of Olympic champion swimmer and Painaustralia Director Kieren Perkins OAM, was diagnosed with chronic migraine at the tender age of eleven.
"Fortunately", the pain from my neck injury was so severe that it was taken seriously from the start.
I had two major cycling accidents in the 1980s which caused a spinal fracture and severe whiplash.I quickly got over the accidents and was fine until the early 1990s when I started to have migraines. This gradually progressed to daily migraines by 1996.
Deb: Reaching under a bed
I woke up one morning in 1988 with a sore back.As the pain continued to increase, I consulted my general practitioner who referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. After some tests, I was told that there were no problems and that the pain should go away. It didn't.
A few months later, I was reaching under the spare bed to find something stored there when I cut my finger on one of my son's arrows (he was doing archery at the time). The sharp pain made me pull into myself and when I tried to get up off the floor I found I couldn't move and an ambulance was called.
After a couple of days in hospital I was given a mylogram which involved injecting dye into the spinal cord and a series of x-rays and CT scans. I had a disc prolapsed that was wrapped around the sciatic nerve on the left side. Two weeks later, I was operated on by a neurosurgeon to remove the prolapsed disc. After the surgery I experienced pins and needles in my left leg and numbness in my left foot. I was told that this would go away within six months. It didn't.
The pins and needles sensation turned into a burning feeling and eventually spread to my right leg. I also have joint pain in my hips, groin, knees and ankles.
The past four years I have also developed the burning pain in my arms and joint pain in my arms and hands. I have patches of numbness across my back.
I was sent to various specialists who could find nothing wrong. I was diagnosed with carpel tunnel but tests proved this was not, in fact, the case. I've been told that I have some sort of neurological disorder which has never been identified. I've been tested for multiple sclerosis, HNPP (or Hereditary Neuropathy with liability to Pressure Palsies) and other nerve-related things which have all been negative. I have had a number of MRI scans and the most information I've received after a scan is that there are problems in my spine but none of them can be fixed surgically. I apparently have arthritis and wearing of the bones in the spine.
I have been put on various medications including morphine, NSAIDs and codeine (all of which I am allergic to) and spent over a year on oxycontin which helped the pain for a while but needed to be increased regularly before it stopped being effective. It also pretty much turned me into a zombie and had a major effect on my new and short-term memory functions. One medication which did ease my symptoms was way out of my range of affordability.
I was told what not to do - bending, stretching, lifting - pretty much don't do anything that will put pressure on a nerve, which means don't do anything at all.
I lost all fitness, couldn't sleep, couldn't do the most basic household chores, gave up leisure activities such as bowling, camping and going out with friends. I could no longer work or drive a car. Depression was and is (not not necessarily pain-related these days) an issue. I needed to use a walking frame or stick to get around.
I have been living with chronic pain for about 11 years now. While the severity of the pain fluctuates I am never pain-free. For years I was treated like an idiot by doctors. I was told it was all in my head and called a hypochondriac.
I think the main effect of being in constant pain was isolation and depression. Not having a "real" diagnosis causes huge problems with not only doctors but also family members and friends. After a while I even started believing that I was crazy. Not being able to do the things I used to take for granted or that I enjoyed in the past because it might cause more pain made me pull away from everyone. Having to rely on other people to do things or go places I saw as a real failure.
I strongly believe that education is vital. Doctors need to know about chronic pain and how to deal with those of us who suffer this condition. The public need more information on pain as well.
I did some pain management classes through the Royal Melbourne Hospital which were helpful in a limited way.
After years of frustration trying to get a real answer from the medical profession I did some research on the Internet and heard about Dr Jane Trinca and the Barbara Walker Centre at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne. I had to argue with my GP at the time to get a referral as he thought I was "doctor shopping" and should just accept my life as it was.
I was put on a waiting list that was over 12 months long but when I finally attended the clinic I found it wonderful.
Finally here were medicos that actually seemed to know something. After trialling a new medication which was ineffective I was asked if I would like to participate in the START program. Another six- month wait and the program began. After the three weeks on START I began making lifestyle changes and have continued these changes at home.
There need to be more programs like START in more places and the waiting lists need to be dramatically reduced. It took almost nine years for me to get an explanation of what chronic pain is and effective strategies to deal with it. To my mind, that's really not good enough.
It has been two years since I completed the START program and I have now become independent once more. I can care for myself and my home. I enjoy outings with friends. I set achievable goals and work out the best way to achieve them. I volunteer two days a week and am studying part-time off campus. I am still in pain every day but the pain does not control my life.