CONVICTED MURDERER CHRISTA Pike has said she is in constant pain since surviving a botched execution attempt in the US state of Tennessee.

Pike (50) was given two doses of the drug pentobarbital at a state prison on 30 September – a usually fatal dose that nevertheless failed to kill her.

She was transported to hospital in critical condition and returned to prison after receiving medical treatment.

Pike is the only inmate to ever survive after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

Pike was sentenced to death in Tennessee after she and her boyfriend beat and killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer at a job training camp. She was 18 at the time of the murder.

In a statement today, Pike said she “walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend men’s prison prepared to die”.

“I had made my peace,” she added.

Pike said she had told her loved ones that she was “grateful for them” and added: “I had also told the people in the room and who were there to witness my execution that I was leaving them in loving kindness.”

She said she woke up several days later “alone in a hospital confused and in pain”.

“There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain,” said Pike, who added that she still struggles to speak.

“And the pain isn’t just physical,” said Pike. “There is pain in my mind and in my soul.”

Pike said she had “not contemplated life beyond that night” and that she is “deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position”.

“I continue to think about my victim’s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured,” said Pike.

She added that while she is “recovering” and “getting stronger… healing is not the same as being okay”.

“Since that night, I have been largely isolated in the prison’s medical ward, away from other people and the human connections that mean so much to me,” said Pike.

She said this “isolation brings its own kind of pain”.

Pike added that she spent 28 years in solitary confinement and that “much of what I am experiencing today is a repeat of that condition”.

Meanwhile, Pike said she is now “searching for meaning in what happened to me”.

“One thing that has given me strength is the extraordinary love and support I have received from people around the world,” said Pike.

“To know that so many people care about me, that they see me as a human being whose life matters, is something I cannot fully put into words.”

She thanked “everyone at the hospital who cared for me” and added that she will “never forget their kindness”.

Pike also thanked her attorneys and “everyone who has fought for me, stood beside me and refused to give up on me”.

“I don’t know why I survived that night”, said Pike.

“I don’t know what comes next. Some days, finding hope is harder than others.

“For now, I am trying to heal, one day at a time. And I am holding on to the love and kindness of so many people who have reminded me that I am not alone.”

Since the botched execution, Pike’s lawyers have repeatedly called on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison.

Lee, a Republican, has suspended executions in Tennessee pending an independent investigation.

Asked by reporters this week about Pike’s fate, Lee said: “I suspect her sentence will be the same as it was before unless determined otherwise by the courts.”

There have been 32 executions in the United States this year, all by lethal injection.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others – California, Oregon and Pennsylvania – have moratoriums in place.