WHEN Sophie Shuttleworth had a splitting headache at an arts festival, she thought she was just dehydrated.
But within hours she was in a coma suffering from meningitis — and when she woke up three weeks later she was paralysed, unable to even move her eyes.
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The 31-year-old, who lives in Newport, Wales, remains paralysed from her chest down, although she has started to make a recovery since being struck down in July last year.
She said: “I thought I had sunstroke as it was the start of a heatwave.
“I’d been all day at an Arts Festival with some friends having a great time.
“But then I was violently sick and had the worst headache of my life.”
A doctor came to her house, took one look at her, and said she needed to go to hospital straight away.
She was diagnosed with viral meningitis and spent the next three weeks in an induced coma fighting for her life.
But once she came around, surrounded by family and friends, she made the shocking discovery that she was totally paralysed.
She said: “It was such a horrendously scary time.
“When I realised I was totally unable to move, and I couldn’t even move my eyes.
“I kept thinking I was going to die — I hadn’t seen myself in the coma for three weeks, so all my family were relieved as they had just seen me go through the toughest fight of my life.
“To me, the scary part was when I woke up. It felt like I’d fallen asleep with what I assumed was sunstroke, and woke up totally paralysed.
“Due to having a tracheostomy fitted, I also didn’t have any voice either.”
Sophie was in the intensive care unit for 94 days, before she was allowed off the ventilator and had her tracheostomy removed.
She was transferred to the spinal injury unit at University Hospital Llandough.
The doctors don’t know how I came to contract the meningitis, they said it was a medical mystery
Sophie said: “The meningitis has attacked my spinal cord and left it with three legions, which are stopping the signals from my brain getting to my body.
“Before the illness, I was really fit — I’d swam 22 miles, which is the same length as the channel, for Diabetes UK and had lost four and a half stone, so I was the fittest I’d ever been.
“The doctors don’t know how I came to contract the meningitis, they said it was a medical mystery.”
Sophie now has feeling back in her arms, hands and fingers, but she remains in a wheelchair.
She said: “I’m determined to get my life back as much as possible — at the moment I feel like I’m living someone else’s life, with mine on hold.
“I had wanted to be able to walk out of the hospital when my rehabilitation is done, but I won’t be able to.
“The doctors don’t know if my mobility will come back over time or not. They can’t promise either way. I just have to take each day as it comes.
“I’ve suffered with PTSD because of what happened, and it’s a struggle to live life without equipment to get around.
“It’s such a struggle for me to accept what has happened.
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“I’m trying to fundraise for an electric attachment for my wheelchair so I can get around independently over various terrain so I’m not stuck inside.
“It will allow me to go out on day trips with my nephew and spend quality time with my family.”
What are the symptoms of meningitis?
Symptoms of meningitis include:
- a high temperature
- cold hands and feet
- vomiting
- confusion
- breathing quickly
- muscle and joint pain
- pale, mottled or blotchy skin (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin)
- spots or a rash (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin)
- headache
- a stiff neck
- a dislike of bright lights
- being very sleepy or difficult to wake
- fits (seizures)
Babies may also:
- refuse feeds
- be irritable
- have a high-pitched cry
- have a stiff body or be floppy or unresponsive
- have a bulging soft spot on the top of their head
Source: The NHS
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