A woman is partially paralysed because her contraceptive implant has been stuck inside her arm for five years.

Danielle Jarrett, 27, went to get her contraceptive implant replaced with her GP.

But she was sent to a specialist because the 4cm plastic rod had sunk too deep into her arm to be removed.

She underwent surgery in January 2020 in a bid to remove it but the surgeons couldn't - and she was told it would have to remain in her arm.

When she got home her arm went numb and floppy - and she later learned she had sustained nerve damage and her left arm was paralysed.

She was unable to use a knife and fork, wash her hair or zip up a jacket - and needed months of physiotherapy.

Five years on, Danielle has only regained 25% of feeling in her arm - with no chance of further improvement - and the implant is STILL in there somewhere.

Danielle, an insurance case handler, from Dartford, Kent, said: "I saw a nerve specialist in May and they said the sensation won't come back any further.

"They said it wasn't worth doing further surgeries because of the risk of doing further damage to the nerves.

"I have regained about 75% movement too - I can do most things by myself which is an increase on before.

"But I have to do things quite differently because I don't have full movement or feeling.

"Since it happened I went straight onto the contraceptive pill - I'm never getting the implant again!"

The implant is a small flexible plastic rod placed under the skin in your upper arm by a doctor or nurse, which releases the hormone progestogen into your bloodstream to prevent pregnancy.

It lasts for three years before needing to be replaced - so when three years was up, Danielle returned to her GP in May 2019.

But she was told it had sunk too deep into her arm and required an appointment with a specialist.

But the specialists also failed to remove it and she was booked in for a hospital operation in January 2020.

After two hours of attempting to remove the implant, doctors at St Thomas' Hospital, London, told Danielle they would have to leave the implant inside her left arm as it was impossible to get out.

She left hospital with her left arm feeling "numb" but when she returned home she noticed her arm was floppy and resembled "the scene from Harry Potter".

Danielle said: "When I had the first one taken out it was a quick five to ten minute job.

"I was expecting exactly the same this time.

"They told me I had to go to hospital for an operation which was my worst nightmare.

"I went along with it but they were digging around and trying to get it out for two hours but still couldn't get to it."

When she got home, she realised she had no feeling in her ring finger.

The following day, she couldn't feel her forearm or move her hand - and was told in A&E she had nerve damage.

She said: "It was exactly like that scene in Harry Potter when his bones are taken out of his arm and it's all floppy."

Danielle was put on a 12-week course of physiotherapy but it didn't help much.

She was told it might slowly improve on its own over the following two years.

She needed to rely on her mum to help her with tasks such as zipping up her jacket, cutting up food, and washing her hair.

Over time, little bits of use of her hand helped the muscles strengthen, and she regained some feeling.

Five years on - long past the two year benchmark - Danielle has 75 per cent of her movement back in that arm.

But she only has 25 per cent of the feeling back - which is the most it will ever be, doctors told her.

Danielle, who has been with partner Liam Etherington, 30, for a year, said: "Most things, I can do in some way now, which is such an increase on before.

"It's just about adapting and trying to use it in the best way I can - I feel quite grateful it's not as bad as it was at the start.

"Obviously the ideal situation would be getting complete sensation back but I just have to accept it."

Shockingly, the implant is STILL stuck somewhere in her body, as surgeons could never locate it to remove it.

Doctors have been unable to figure out why the implant sunk so deep, but Danielle believes it was not inserted properly, having already had an implant inserted and taken out three years earlier.

But doctors have reassured her that the implant will have stopped being effective and having it still in her body is unlikely to have any impact on her fertility in the future.