A Scots nurse has been left unable to walk more than 10 steps without a zimmer frame after being diagnosed with three rare diseases within three months.
Katie Ash-Wilson, of Kilmarnock, had been working as a staff nurse at Ayr Hospital during the height of the covid pandemic when she felt a shooting pain like 'lightning' up the back of her legs on a night shift in November 2020.
Then aged 24, she put the pain down to being on her feet all the time.
The following day she woke up and realised she was losing the feeling in her feet.
Katie attended A&E at Crosshouse Hospital and was immediately blue-lighted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow where she ended up staying for five weeks.
The NHS worker lost the ability to walk soon after being brought in.
She was diagnosed with Hypermobility Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS), which attacks the nervous system and Functional Neurological Disease (FND), which affects the strength of ligaments in the body.
Katie told the Record: "In the run up to being admitted to hospital, I had increasing back pain but I didn't think anything of it.
"It wasn't until I was on my last of three nightshifts that I started experiencing lightning-like shooting pain going down my legs. I did the typical nurse thing of just driving home and thinking it'd be fine.
"When I woke up the next afternoon, I had a sense that something wasn't quite right. I was admitted to hospital later that night.
One month after being admitted to hospital, Katie was transferred by wheelchair to the Douglas Grant Rehabilitation Centre in Irvine, where she spent a further eight weeks receiving 30 minutes of intense physiotherapy a day.
She was then diagnosed with Fowler’s syndrome which causes muscles in the bladder to malfunction.
She was discharged home in February 2021 but Katie, now 26 says her world has fallen apart.
Katie is now put to bed at 8pm every night by carers who visit her home twice a day.
She is unable to drive, and has had to quit her job as a nurse.
She continued: "I got home in February with a care package which I've still got and I've had to make quite a lot of adaptations to my house.
"I'm still only able to walk 10 steps using a Zimmer frame. I'm working on re-training the connections in my brain that allow the signal to travel between my brain and legs. I hope I can learn to walk again.
"Prior to my diagnosis I was a staff nurse working on the frontline, I had bought my first house and welcomed both a kitten Jasper and a puppy Harris.
"My illnesses have now left me stuck in the house. I can't go anywhere unless someone takes me.
"I'm pretty much socially isolated. I can't socialise unless people come to see me or my mum takes me to places.
"The conditions are more than likely lifelong so I'm going to have to reconsider my career options."
Fowler's Syndrome has also left Katie catheterised and she is on the NHS waiting list for a stoma bag as her bowels have stopped working.
Luckily, Katie had access to private health insurance which allowed her to see top consultants.
To improve Katie's quality of life, friend Derek has set up a JustGiving page to raise cash for a new customised wheelchair and an electric profiling bed - two pieces of potentially life-changing equipment.
So far, it has reached an incredible £3,525 of the £5,000 goal.
Katie continued: "The bike would give me my independence in the sense that I'd be able to walk the dog and go places locally by myself until I'm allowed to drive again.
"The bed would help me to get in and out of bed myself and make it easier for me to stay sleeping upright to alleviate the dangers of choking in my sleep.
"Living with FND is never knowing what will happen tomorrow, this hour, this minute or this second.
"Unfortunately not everyone who is diagnosed and experiences FND gets better."
To donate to Katie's fundraiser, click here.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
