Back in July 2023, I become very poorly, and shortly after was diagnosed with a condition called Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS)

I was treated in Aintree, and then Broadgreen Hospital in their amazing Rehabilitation centre where I thankfully, due to the help of the most amazing staff, I have made a full recovery.

For my twelve month anniversary of becoming ill, to celebrate being better, and to express my thanks to the ward, as words will never be enough. We have decided to raise money for the Rehabilitation Unit (Ward 5), and to spread awareness of this truly awful condition by jumping out of a plane at 15,000 feet!!🙈✈️ 🪂❤️

Any sponsorships or shares of this page will be hugely appreciated! Please take a moment to read my story below, to see why this amazing hospital deserves the donations - thank you💚

What is Guillain-Barré Syndrome?

In Guillain-Barré Syndrome, the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. The syndrome affect’s the nerves that control muscle movement as well as those that transmit pain, temperature and touch sensations. This can result in muscle weakness, loss of sensation in the legs and/or arms, and problems swallowing or breathing. In severe cases can cause paralysis and cause patients to require medical treatment in Intensive Care.

Symptoms of Guillain-Barré Syndrome:

Symptoms often start in your feet and hands before spreading to your arms and legs.

At first you may have:

* numbness

* pins and needles

* muscle weakness

* blurred/double vision in the eyes

* pain

* problems with balance and co-ordination

Causes of Guillain-Barré Syndrome:

Guillain-Barré syndrome is thought to be caused by a problem with the immune system, the body's natural defence against illness and infection. Normally the immune system attacks any germs that get into the body. But in people with Guillain-Barré syndrome, something goes wrong and it mistakenly attacks and damages the nerves. It's not clear exactly why this happens, but the condition often happens after an infection; especially an infection of the airways, such as flu, or an infection of the digestive system, such as food poisoning or a stomach bug (gastroenteritis).

My story -

I first began to notice myself becoming ill at the end of July 2023. I felt nauseous after the slightest amount of food or fluid, and within a few days had developed Gastroenteritis.

I could not eat or drink anything without it coming straight back up, so was firstly in and out of hospital getting fluid drips to try and prevent de-hydration. After my third visit to Aintree hospital, I was kept in overnight with suspected Pancreatitis. I had every scan/test under the sun and everything was coming back clear. I was sent home and told “you must just have a bad stomach bug, rest up and it should pass in a few days”.. it in fact did not pass, and sadly just got worse. I started noticing weakness in my lower limbs, and awoke one morning with double vision and intense headaches. I went to see my GP and after examination of my limbs and discovering I had a dangerously low blood pressure due to de-hydration, was told to go straight back to hospital, where I then stayed for 12 weeks…

When I arrived in Aintree hospital, i could not walk due to the weakness in my lower limbs, and was referred straight to the Neuro doctors due to the problems with my vision and the investigations began. The first few days I was still deteriorating. The double vision was still there, the only thing that helped this was wearing an eyepatch which I kept on continuously for a few days. The weakness in my legs got worse and I could no longer stand, nor walk, and was completely bed bound. It took a further two days for me to be unable to move my lower limbs at all. A truly terrifying experience. I will be forever thankful to the Neuro doctor who looked after me during this extremely scary time. He was determined to find out what was wrong, and after more tests, scans and a lumber puncture, I was told he suspected GBS, although was informed I was the youngest patient he’d ever seen it in!

A few more days passed and we feared that the condition was starting to travel up my body, as my breathing and heart rate began to be affected. My heart rate raised to 172bpm (should be around 90) and i was short of breath. I therefore got rushed straight to Critical Care, where I was hooked to heart monitor machines that beeped all day and night. I then had to do breathing tests every 3 hours (yes even during the night) to ensure this wasn’t getting worse. Frighteningly, I was then told by the doctors that if my breathing did continue to get any worse, I would have to be moved into the intensive care unit where I would be placed on a ventilator which would breath for me and take the pressure off my body. Luckily, this did not happen, and we began treatment. A course of Haemoglobin over a case of five days was pumped into me to clean the toxicity from my blood cells, and I finally started to feel a little better. The vomitting stopped, the headaches were gone and my vision was back to normal, but I still had paralysis in my lower limbs. I was finally moved back to a general ward and was told I would be getting transferred to Broadgreen’s Rehabilitation Unit for an intensive physiotherapy program, as I still had to beat the paralysis and learn to walk all over again.

I arrived at Broadgreen hospital and was welcomed by the most amazing staff. The other patients on my ward were amazing and it was nice to be surrounded by people who were going through the same thing. We built such a great support network amongst one another and I will never forget those wonderful women.

My physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychological therapy began and slowly but surely we started to see improvements. Not only were the therapists amazing, but the overall nursing and HCA staff on the ward were real life angels. As you can imagine, I was unable to do anything myself, I lost all independence. In the earlier stages I had to be took the toilet in a wheelchair, washed and dressed with the help of the nursing & HCA staff and I couldn’t of asked for a better bunch of people to help care for me during such a vulnerable time. Nothing was ever to much trouble and their kindness will stay with me forever.

It took four weeks for me to even be able to stand again and hold my weight in a standing position. Once we had this, we slowly worked on taking steps with a zimmer frame, and as the weeks went by, progressed onto two crutches, and then finally down to one crutch. The work was hard, I was pushed to my limits everyday as everyone believed in me and knew I had the ability to make a full recovery, and I was determined to do so!💪🏼

Fast forward a few weeks, the 1st of December came around and I was discharged. I left the hospital grounds walking and continued to improve at home with continued guidance from the hospital.

I will be forever grateful to the staff that helped me through this during my time at Broadgreen hospital. My physiotherapist, Jono, my Occupational Therapist, Amanda, and my Therapy assistant, Brian. Words will never be able to thank you enough for all you done for me, and the hospital in general were faultless.

We are so lucky to have the NHS💙🩵