Taela Stephens on being told she may not walk again — to creating a life she loves

We spoke to Taela Stephens, founder of Bright Hair Collective, about thirteen years of unexplained pain, a tumour encasing her spinal cord, two surgeries that nearly cost her the ability to walk, and the dream she refused to put down.

Before Taela Stephens opened her own salon, someone she looked up to told her she would never be able to run one.

Taela had been carrying unexplained pain and health issues since she was 15 years old. The unanswered symptoms had only grown worse with each pregnancy.

"I remember being really taken aback. I didn't know what to say. I guess I was in shock that someone I looked up to could say something like that to me."

She went home. She thought about it. And then she made a decision.

"I can run a business despite all of my challenges if I want to. And one day I will."

What Taela didn't know yet was just how much she would have to get through before that day arrived.

For thirteen years, no one could explain what was wrong with her. Pain in her hips, back and knees. Pregnancies marked by the inability to breathe, stand, or work. Test after test came back with nothing. By 28 years old, she was spending more days in her doctor's office than she could count.

Eventually, Taela told her doctor, plainly, that something was wrong and that she could not live like this anymore.

The brain MRI he ordered to rule out multiple sclerosis revealed a shadow. A second MRI revealed what the shadow was. A tumour, encasing her spinal cord.

"Diagnosis day was very scary. Hearing the words — a tumour is encasing your spinal cord — was terrifying. I didn't know what to think, do or say. I just cried."

What followed was a fear far bigger than the surgery itself. The fear that she would never be a hairdresser again. That she would never walk beside her daughters again. That she would become a burden on her husband and her family.

"I didn't want to be a burden. It was a really tough time to navigate through emotionally."

The first surgery was a success, in that she could still walk. But sixty percent of the tumour remained, and it would regrow. A second surgery was offered, with higher stakes and a higher chance she would not walk again. She took it.

Six hours in, her husband received a phone call from the surgeon. They believed they had touched her spinal cord. She might never walk again. He was in shock. She was still in surgery.

In recovery, surrounded by surgeons and doctors, she was asked to move her toes.

She did.

Then she lifted her legs.

Everyone around her started crying and had to leave the room.

"Even with a lot of deficits after the surgery — which I still have today — for the first time in my life, I felt like something had finally gone medically right for me. Someone was watching over me."

"For the first time in my life, I felt like something had finally gone medically right for me."

Recovery was long. But it was during that recovery, knowing she could walk and that she was going to be okay, that Taela leaned fully into the dream she'd held.

"I knew if I got through this, I could one day open my own salon. That gave me the extra drive that I needed."

In January, three years after her second surgery, she opened Bright Hair Collective in her hometown of Bright. The salon is booming. She is, in her own words, absolutely thriving.

That thriving is earned, not effortless. A regular day for Taela starts with getting her girls ready for school, running straight through a full day of clients, and continuing into the evenings with the behind-the-scenes work of running her business. The pain and numbness from the neck surgery is still there. So is the discomfort of endometriosis, diagnosed since. Some days are mentally hard, knowing the pain may be permanent.

"Life is busy, but I feel like I thrive on the chaos some days."

When asked what she would say to a mother who's been told she can't, Taela's answer comes without hesitation.

"Do not listen to any negativity that people throw at you. Women are absolutely incredible in the way that we can go through so much and still get on with life like nothing is happening. If you've got a dream, chase it. Be your own biggest supporter."

"Never give up. Keep pushing. Reach for your dreams — no matter your ability.”

Taela Stephens is the founder of Bright Hair Collective in Bright, Victoria.

This story is part of the Movement Without Mental Load campaign by Travel Tots — traveltots.au