- Hannah Harry suffers from Postural Orthostatic Tacychardic Syndrome
- She spent nine weeks in intensive care after a measles outbreak at school
- Doctors have told her she cannot teach again due to life-threatening bugs
- She said she is ‘devastated and angry’ that her dream career has ended
Steph Cockroft for MailOnline
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A teacher who suffers from a rare immunity disorder has been forced to give up her dream job because working with children could kill her.
Hannah Harry, 26, has Postural Orthostatic Tacychardic Syndrome, a condition which means her body cannot cope with even minor illnesses.
The teacher was left in intensive care for nine weeks after contracting measles following an outbreak in her school.
Hannah Harry (left and right) suffers from a rare immunity disorder and has been forced to give up her dream teaching job because working with children could kill her
Now Ms Harry – who sometimes has to rely on a wheelchair – has quit her dream job, incase she picks up more life-threatening bugs.
She said: ‘I’d spent three years working at university and now I was being told I wasn’t able to do my dream job. I was devastated.
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‘I was angry at first – it just wasn’t fair. I know it was for my own safety but it was hard to cope with.’
Ms Harry has struggled with poor health all her life and was unable to be vaccinated against childhood illnesses due to her allergies.
Ms Harry, who lives with fiancé James Evans (pictured), has quit her dream job, incase she picks up more life-threatening bugs
She regularly caught infections and bugs, which would lead to her being seriously ill in hospital.
After years of not knowing what was wrong, Ms Harry was eventually diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in 2009, while studying teaching at Trinity St David university in Swansea.
Two years later, she was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tacychardic Syndrome, meaning her body is unable to regulate her temperature and heartbeat.
Ms Harry finally finished her degree from her hospital bed and, shortly after, she got her first teaching job back in her hometown of Neath, South Wales.
But, while she was enjoying her ‘life getting back together’, a measles outbreak hit her school.
After picking up the bug, she developed pneumonia and spent nine weeks in hospital. When she recovered, doctors warned she would never be able to work with children again.
Ms Harry, who lives with fiancé James Evans, now relies on taking more than 100 tablets and 18 IV injections every single day.
She decided she would try to help other people who suffer from the same conditions, by writing an online blog about her experiences.
The teacher (left) ended up in intensive care for nine weeks after contracting measles following an outbreak in her school. She is pictured right after graduating
She now relies on taking more than 100 tablets and 18 IV injections every single day (some of which are pictured above)
She said: ‘I was fed up of reading all this doom and gloom. It’s not all bad. Yes, I sometimes have to be in a wheelchair but when I’m well, I don’t. There are so many people who have no choice.
‘I just wanted to highlight the positives. Sometimes I can sit around and watch Disney films all day and nobody can call me lazy.
‘People have said that reading my blog has helped them, even if it’s just getting a bit of perspective.’
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