Woman With Spinal Cord Injury and One Ovary Celebrates Getting Pregnant for the First Time A woman had complications at birth causing a spinal cord injury that forever weakened the left side of her body. As she has been wheelchair-bound throughout her life, she thought she may never have a baby of her own. However, falling pregnant at the age of 30 was an unexpected joy, sending Alyssa Higgins, from Rockland County, New York, on a brand-new life journey. As a baby, Alyssa’s spinal cord injury prevented her from moving or breathing on her own. Placed in an incubator in the NICU, it took Alyssa 18 months to move her fingers.