Outside at last, the woman who hasn't left her home since 1966!.

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The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine topped the charts, England had just won the World Cup and Harold Wilson was happily puffing his pipe in Downing Street.
As Patricia Cooper walked in the sunshine, pushing her six-month-old daughter, she was suddenly struck by a crippling fear of open spaces.
The effect of that summer’s day in 1966 was so terrifying that it would be the last time the 31-year-old housewife ventured outdoors for nearly half a century.

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Proud: Patricia Cooper with grandson Kevin, left, and pictured right at the height of her agoraphobia with her daughter Sally, who's now 30

In all that time, mother-of-two Mrs Cooper never went more than a few yards from her front door, never walked her children to school or took her grandchildren out and could not even go shopping.
Imprisoned by agoraphobia and in dread of what might happen if it struck her again, she kept in touch with her family by telephone – or, in recent years, the internet.

Meanwhile, outside her Darlington home, the world was transformed by the rise in the number of cars, the ease of foreign travel and the decline of the high street.
That passed Mrs Cooper by, until  her 26-year-old grandson Kevin Nicholson was awarded the British Empire Medal. Mrs Cooper was so proud that she summoned the courage to be outdoors for the first time since that August day 48 years ago.

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Fear factor: Mrs Cooper said that seeing her grandson receive the award was 'terrifying, but worth'

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Connected: Mrs Cooper says that she keeps in touch with family and friends using Facebook

WHAT IS AGORAPHOBIA AND HOW IS IT TREATED?

Agoraphobia is 'a fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult, or help wouldn't be available if things went wrong', according to the NHS website. 
The site explains that it's often thought that the condition is a fear of open spaces, but it's not quite as straightforward as that, with some sufferers also fearing public transport and shopping centres.
When agoraphobics are exposed to their fears several symptoms can sweep over them, including a feeling of nausea, rapid heartbeat and breathing, nausea and rising temperature.
The cause of agoraphobia can vary from person to person, with some people developing a fear of a certain situation or place because they experienced a panic attack there and then try to avoid it.
Others may develop the condition through a fear of crime or being involved in an accident.
Treatments may involve counselling, relaxation training or taking antidepressants.
NHS Direct says: 'In the UK, up to two people in 100 have a panic disorder and it is thought around a third of those will go on to develop agoraphobia as a result.'
Source: NHS Direct

In an almost clandestine operation to get to the presentation ceremony last week, she was ushered into a car that drew up at her door, driven for a few minutes to the venue and introduced to the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham and the town mayor after they presented the medal to Mr Nicholson for his services to a local community centre. Then she sat in a garden for a time with him – and went back indoors again.
Yesterday she told the Mail: ‘It was really scary but I’m glad I did it. Kevin didn’t have any idea I’d be there and he was thrilled. I’m glad I stayed to watch the ceremony but the only thing I really wanted to do was get back home.’
Mrs Cooper, now a 78-year-old great-grandmother, told how her self-imposed confinement began as she walked to her local post office.
She was swept by an unexplained feeling of panic. Voices around her suddenly became distant and everything went hazy.
‘I was rooted to the spot,’ she said. ‘I actually thought I was going to die. The only thing I knew I needed to do was get home as soon as I could. I shut the door... and I didn’t answer it again for the next three years. I can’t explain it, but I just couldn’t face going out again.’
Mrs Cooper, already divorced from husband Brendon, was told electric shock treatment would cure her but she refused. Instead she became a recluse. Neighbours did her shopping and her mother helped her to raise daughter Sandra, now 48, and son John, 50. She has lived every day in terror of injuring herself and needing treatment. ‘If I had to be rushed to hospital the experience would probably kill me,’ she said. ‘I just wouldn’t go. It’s a terrible feeling. You just can’t control it.’

Here are some of the things Patricia Cooper has missed since developing agoraphobia

Although she has been smuggled to her children’s homes for the occasional Christmas or Mother’s Day, she had not spent time outside for five decades until last week, when she was collected from the care home where she has spent the last seven years.
Of the short drive to the ceremony, she said: ‘There are cars and motorbikes everywhere and everyone seems to drive like Evel Knievel.’
Yet indoors she has easily embraced new technology – she uses an iPad, has a Facebook page and shops online.
Her biggest regret is that agoraphobia robbed her of the chance to spend more time with her family.
What would she do now if she could lead a normal life outside? ‘Go to the tulip gardens in Amsterdam... visit Disneyland... go to where my grandmother was born in County Cork... spend lots more time seeing my family... it’s the simple things you miss out on,’  she said.
There is one thing she hasn’t missed since 1966, however: England winning the World Cup again.

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