A woman suddenly paralysed as a teen has gone on to attend uni, gain a master's - and now paints pottery with her mouth. Emily Kilby was on a boat in Spain when an intense pins and needles feeling shot up her body from her feet.
Aged just 13, she was rushed to a hospital in Girona before being transported back to the UK for treatment. Doctors eventually worked out she had the rare neurological condition transverse myelitis, caused by spinal cord swelling.
Emily, now 25, is paralysed from the shoulders down. She has some movement in her arms but can’t move her hands at all.
But, despite being dependent on carers, Emily has still gone to university, completed a master's and been travelling with her family. And the innovation executive, from Hitchin, Herts., has also had to adapt how she did everyday tasks.
She uses her mouth to paint as a way of destressing - and puts splints in her pinkies do her make-up. Emily said: “I didn’t want my injuries to stop me moving forward. You find your own way to do things.
“I saw someone online who was mouth painting. I gave it a go and ended up really liking it. It’s a great way to destress you.” Emily was on a boat on the Costa Brava, Spain when she had a strange feeling in her body - paralysing her as it went.
Her dad David, 63, a business owner, was able to get help from a neighbouring boat. Emily was then put in a canoe to get her to land and to a local hospital in Spain.
She stayed there for a month before being flown back to the UK. She spent a year in Adenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, and Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Buckinghamshire.
Doctors eventually worked out that Emily had transverse myelitis and tried to find signals in her spine. She said: “I was swimming. I just got on the boat and I had an intense pins and needles starting at my feet.
“It didn’t stop until the top my neck. I got the hospital and they didn’t know what it was. They thought it was sun stroke." Emily went straight back to school after a year in hospital, and was determined to do well.
She completed her undergraduate in geography at the London School of Economics before going back to complete a master's in environment and development. Emily has always had an “inseparable” relationship with her younger sister Olivia.
Olivia, 23, a jeweller, said: “I’ve always said to Emily ‘I’m going to show everyone how amazing you are’. If there was a little girl who has an accident they can see that she can still wear pretty dresses. She can still wear make-up.”
“People have asked ‘is she still there in her head?’ I say ‘of course’ – it’s still the same Emily.”
Emily has full time carers who help with her personal care – such as washing and dressing. But Emily has found ways to do things independently – she uses food splints so she can eat and has taught herself to do her make-up with a splint in her pinkie.
She learnt to paint using a paintbrush in her mouth – practicing while on holiday in Spain while her siblings went in the sea. Olivia decided to teach herself pottery – and after perfecting her skills she asked Emily if she would paint on them.
Olivia said: “She can’t swim in the sea. So she mouth paints. I was making pots. I said 'you’re going to mouth paint on one of my pots'.
“We can’t go for drinks and go to a club like other sisters. So we do painting and pottery.”
The sisters have been selling their ceramic creations on and filming the process to inspire others. The pots take two to three weeks to make – after going through the kiln – and it can take Emily hours to paint then.
The siblings hope to be able to travel more – and recently visited Amsterdam together. They hope in sharing Emily’s story and her painting skills that they can inspire others – and show them anything is possible.
Olivia said: “She’s amazing.” Follow the sisters @wheelygoodceramics and you can by their ceramics at: wheelygoodceramics.bigcartel.com
