[UPDATED on Monday, Dec. 30 at 4:37pm: Emirates responded to Mothership queries]

A British woman was stranded in Singapore after part of her custom-made wheelchair was lost by Emirates airline.

Wheelchair part lost

Gemma Quinn, 35, spent more than £15,000 (S$26,400) on a 19-day trip through Asia for herself and her two carers, but her plans were brought to an abrupt halt in Singapore, reported The Guardian.

Quinn, who uses a wheelchair after being paralysed from the neck down in a car accident in 1992, flew on Emirates from Manchester to Singapore on Dec. 23, with a stopover in Dubai.

However, the specially-moulded back of her custom-made wheelchair was lost on the first flight from Manchester to Dubai.

As a result, her wheelchair was unusable and she had to be carried through the Dubai airport on a stretcher to get to her connecting flight.

"Mortifying experience"

According to The Guardian, Quinn told PA media that the experience made her feel "degraded", and told the staff that there was no point continuing her trip if they couldn't find the missing piece.

Eventually, Quinn agreed to be wheeled to take the next leg of her trip:

"I got the feeling that they just wanted me off the aircraft. I eventually very reluctantly agreed to be stretchered to my connecting flight on the promise that they would be working on a solution by the time I landed in Singapore."

The trouble continued in Singapore

Unfortunately, the "solution" proposed to Quinn when she touched down in Singapore on Christmas Eve was less-than-ideal.

According to The Independent, she explained:

"By the time I landed in Singapore, nothing had been done, the only thing they did was put a pillow on the back of my chair, held in place with two aeroplane seat belts. I told them how unsafe this was for me but they shrugged it off."

Because her wheelchair was still unusable, Quinn ended up spending her Christmas confined to a hotel room rather than on her planned holiday.

According to The Independent, she said:

"Here I am now confined to my hotel room completely immobile, the only sights that I can see (are) the sights out of my window until Emirates deliver on a promise."

The Guardian reported that Quinn's holiday plans had involved flying to Kuala Lumpur for New Year's before going to a beach resort elsewhere in Malaysia.

Had never been made to feel so disabled before

Speaking to PA Media, Quinn said that the recent wheelchair incident made her feel more disabled than ever, even though she had always tried to live as active a life as possible.

According to The Telegraph, Quinn was asleep in the backseat of the car on the way to a family holiday in North Wales in June 1992 when a lorry hit their car, causing it to crash into a wall and flip over into a field.

The accident left Quinn with a severed spinal cord, which doctors declared meant she would never walk again, nor would she be able to breathe on her own.

However, Quinn proved them wrong, recovering the ability to breathe independently of the ventilator after nine months in the hospital, reported The Telegraph.

Inspired Superman and Princess Di

The Independent said that Quinn later became an inspiration to both late Superman actor Christopher Reeve and Princess Diana.

She reportedly wrote Reeve to encourage him to not give up hope after he was paralysed from the neck-down in a horseback riding accident in 1995.

After hearing about the letter, Princess Diana invited Quinn to meet her.

The princess, in a letter to the International Spinal Research Trust, called Quinn's hope and courage "inspiring", according to The Independent.

In 2002, 10 years after the accident, Quinn began to regain sensation in her feet.

The Telegraph reported that within two weeks, she was able to walk 20 steps, ride an exercise bike, and kick a football.

Unfortunately, due to the botched holiday, The Guardian reported that Quinn told PA Media: "This was meant to be a holiday of a lifetime which is now turned into a living nightmare."

Emirates responds, wheelchair back found

According to The Guardian, an Emirates spokesperson told PA Media:

"Emirates wishes to confirm that the missing part of Ms Quinn’s wheelchair has been located in Dubai and is being transported to Singapore on 25 December 2019.

The part will be handed over to her upon its arrival. Our teams in Dubai and Singapore have made every effort to help Ms Quinn and her family continue on their planned holiday, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience they have experienced."

However, Quinn told PA Media that she would wait for the part to be returned to her before celebrating, after she was told once before that the part was on its way but it turned out to not be true.

It is unclear whether the wheelchair back has been returned to Quinn yet, and whether she will be able to continue her dream holiday once it is back with her.

In response to Mothership queries, Emirates confirmed that the missing part of the wheelchair was found in Dubai and transported to Singapore on Dec. 25, where it was handed over to Quinn.

An Emirates spokesperson said: "Our teams in Dubai and Singapore have made every effort to help Ms. Quinn and her family continue on their planned holiday, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience they have experienced."

Top image via Emirates website.

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