A woman who fell 25ft headfirst from a window and broke her neck was told by doctors she "should be dead" after walking away without brain damage or paralysis. Flora Macdonald, 24, fell from the open window of a friend's first floor flat in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the early hours of September 11th and hit her head on railings below - breaking her neck instantly. She was sat near the open window of the flat getting some air when she fell 25ft to the ground below. After the initial impact, she then fell a further 5ft into the concrete ditch of the basement flat and started to panic after noticing her head was bleeding. Residents in the basement flat called an ambulance after hearing a loud bang when Flora hit the railings - initially thinking there had been a car crash. Flora was rushed to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where she had a full body MRI, a CT scan of her head and x-rays of her spine, right arm, wrist and knee. Remaining conscious throughout, she was then told she had five broken vertebrae in her neck and was lucky not to be paralysed. Flora spent the first 12 hours in A&E before being transferred to the orthopaedic ward for a week. She was off work for six weeks wearing a neck brace 24 hours a day and went for weekly neck washes at the hospital because she wasn't allowed to remove the brace. After starting her new job on October 24 as an assistant business manager, Flora assumed the pain in her lower back was due to her recovery but just last week she found out that her lower spine had also broken. Flora, from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, said: "I remember everything in impeccable detail. "The only haziness I have of the incident was in the ambulance after they've gave me some meds for the pain. "As I was discharged the consultant said I should be dead, and they said they’ve never seen the C1 or C2 bones broken that way without paralysis. "The ward I was in was incredible. They were so structured and didn’t care about the accident. "I wasn’t drunk or anything but even if I had been they didn’t care, they just wanted to help." Flora fell from her friend's first floor flat after waking up at around 1.30am and broke her neck upon impact. After attempting to crawl out of the concrete ditch she'd fallen in to, Flora began to panic. Then, with a broken neck, Flora managed to pull herself out through the railings before she was helped by the ground floor residents. She then spent the next 12 hours in A&E before being moved on to a ward, without requiring surgery. Flora said: "I can't explain what that falling feeling is like. "I don't know if it was in slow motion, whether I was accepting death, I don't know what it was. It was bizarre. "I had quite bad PTSD for 48 hours afterwards "I don't know how I've come out in one piece. "If this had happened six months ago when I was in a different head space, I would have been a mess and would have had more wobbles. "But it's made me appreciate myself more and how amazing my body has been. "In a sense I’ve used my nine lives so I need to look after my body a bit more." Flora is keen to thank the NHS for the expert care provided and is planning to shave her head on November 30th in an effort to raise money for the hospital's charity. She has already smashed her £200 goal - with her fundraising efforts currently sitting at £520. Flora said: "That's why I want to raise money with shaving my hair, to give something back. "I also wanted to have that Britney moment. "It's one of those cases where I could have had brain damage or internal bleeding and when you're in those moments they really have it on lock and know what they're doing. "When you have those life-threatening emergencies, they are really on it. "One of the nurses has popped in to see me in work and we have a really good relationship. "They were so amazing on the ward and they're just like a family with me now. "The funds will be split 50/50 between A&E and the ward I was in."