A young Southampton man who was getting his life back after being paralysed from the neck down has suffered a major set back.

But Jay Young, 23, has been left bed bound after suffering blood poisoning.

The stuntman severed his spinal cord while rehearsing for a show in March and has since then had to adjust to life as a quadriplegic.

Just weeks after ending 2011 on a high – having proposed to his long-term girlfriend Jess Smith – Jay had returned from a shopping trip when he began to feel unwell.

As time passed, he developed an agonising pain in his head, caused by a condition called dysreflexia.

Jay’s mum, Mandy White, 48, from Freemantle, was with him at the time.

She said: “If not treated it can cause a brain haemorrhage, a stroke or even a heart attack.”

Jay’s sudden deterioration was caused by a blocked catheter.

After being rushed to hospital in Salisbury doctors discovered he had blood poisoning and E coli.

It has meant another extended stay in hospital for Jay, who had been discharged as an inpatient earlier this month for the first time since his accident.

Mandy said: “It has knocked him back a bit and shaken him up.

“He’s still got a long way to go.”