A woman who thought she'd pulled a muscle in her shoulder suddenly lost the use of her limbs after suffering a rare form of stroke. Daisy Vass, 22, says the first sign something was wrong was a pain in her shoulder, followed by a tightness around her chest.
Speaking to MyLondon, Daisy said: "On the Friday during the day I had a pain in my right shoulder, I just thought 'oh I’ve pulled a muscle' and didn’t think anything of it. On Saturday I woke up and it was still hurting. But I just put some Voltarol on it and hoped for the best.
"We got to my friend’s house at around 4, and everything was fine, and then at seven, I had this pain that went all the way around my torso. It was like someone had got a belt and really tightened it as tight as they possibly could.
"It's hard to describe, you know when something is so painful it completely takes your breath away? So I said to my partner at the time, ‘something’s not right, I don’t feel good, something’s really wrong here’, and then my left arm completely seized up."
Daisy called 111, who scheduled an appointment for her at the hospital that evening.
By this time her other arm had also seized up, but she was still able to walk with assistance. Several hours later she was "completely paralysed". Daisy said: "I couldn't move my legs, arms, upper body, everything, it was very, very scary."
'I talk to my feet every night to tell them "you will move, you are still here".’ (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)
When a paramedic eventually arrived, tests showed Daisy's heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar were all normal. An ambulance took her to hospital. "It took four of them to get me up, they’d never experienced anything like it before." Daisy said.
After CT scans, MRI scans and tests, doctors worked out days later that she had suffered a spinal cord stroke, an extremely rare form that accounts for just over one per cent of all strokes.
Daisy's mum Jane Pargeter said: "Daisy actually had several blood clots in her lungs, which we knew nothing about. They haven’t come to the conclusion yet but these clots somehow travelled from her lungs to her spine and cut the oxygen to cause the infarct."
Six weeks on, Daisy is beginning to regain feeling in her arms and hands, but has seen little progress elsewhere, with no movement at all in her legs.
She said: "They’ve said the likelihood of a full recovery is very unlikely. But that could mean anything, it could mean just sensation, or never being able to walk again, or just not being able to use my left arm, so we just don’t know yet.
"It’s still quite early days, I have feeling in my feet and legs at certain points but absolutely no movement in them.
"You just never expect at 22 years old to be sat here being told you’ve got multiple blood clots in your lungs and you’ve had a spinal cord stroke it’s just not something that happens."
Daisy said: "It’s been a big rollercoaster. Some days I feel so okay in myself and I say ‘okay, it is what it is, we’re going to stay positive and do the best that we can'.
"It will be really horrible if I can never walk again but that doesn’t mean my life is over.
Daisy felt like she'd pulled a muscle in her shoulder in the days before the spinal stroke (Image: Daisy Vass)
"There are some horrible days because I am just laying here really and you have so many thoughts you can get into a really dark place because you don’t know what’s going to happen.
"You worry what people will think if they see me in a wheelchair, are they going to laugh at me? Some days you just feel useless. But it’s getting a lot better, I can feed myself now with a strap we put on my hand, before that I just felt like such a burden.
"Those days happen less and less though now because I’m seeing improvements and I tell everyone who comes to visit, ‘no bad vibes’. Your body knows when you’re down as well and it’s not gonna work as hard as if you’re positive.
"I talk to my feet every night to tell them ‘you will move, you are still here’ just to remind my brain that although they don’t work right now they are part of me and they need to work."
Daisy has been taking to TikTok to spread awareness of spinal cord strokes. She continued: "I've been making videos about my progression and just to say how I’m feeling really because I’d never heard of a spinal cord stroke before.
"There might be some people out there going through the same thing thinking ‘oh my god what even is this?’ so it might be nice for them to know they aren't alone."
Daisy and mum Jane have set up a fundraiser now as well as they look to the future and what Daisy is going to need after she leaves hospital, as well as costs of rehabilitation. So far they've raised £5,260 towards a goal of £10,000.
Jane explained: "We’ll go as far as we can with the NHS, there is a point where they’ll no longer do any more of course.
"Then after that there are certain stimulating machines which help to stimulate the muscles and try to open up the pathway, it’s rehabilitation now, there aren’t any medical fixes in terms of operations.
"There are lots of things in the United States which are coming on quickly too, so we’re kind of preparing for this journey we’ll have to start on once the NHS have done as much as they can.
"The plan is to use the money for equipment, rehab and therapy if needed but if a miracle happens and Daisy doesn't need it, any extra money will go back to a spinal charity to help others."
Daisy added: "I’m so thankful and so grateful for all the support I’ve had, I didn’t expect any of it.
"Even when I look at my Gofundme it still shocks me every day that some people can be so generous. I’m so grateful to everyone, they’ve been so supportive, coming to see me just to cheer me up.
"All the nurses and staff at Charing Cross and Hillingdon have been incredible too. What they can do for you is just unreal, even just how thoughtful they are about keeping my dignity as well."
If you want to donate to Daisy's fundraiser you can do this here, or show your support by following her TikTok page here.
