- Penny Winton, 10, developed Transverse Myelitis after being bitten
- Neurological condition caused her to be paralysed and disturbed her vision
- Was told there was only a 30% chance she would make a full recovery
- After months of physiotherapy she has now returned to full health
By
Emma Innes
07:04 EST, 15 July 2013
|
09:09 EST, 15 July 2013
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A schoolgirl has beaten the odds to walk again after being paralysed by a tick bite.
Penny Winton, 10, developed Transverse Myelitis (TM) two years ago leaving her paralysed from the chest down and seeing four of everything.
She was told there was a 70 per cent chance she would never return to full health, but after a gruelling physiotherapy programme has made a full recovery.
Penny Winton, 10, developed the neurological condition Transverse Myelitis (TM) two years ago leaving her paralysed from the chest down and seeing four of everything
Penny’s parents Lynn and Jack say that her condition began to quickly deteriorate after she was bitten by a tick while on a family holiday on the west coast of Scotland.
She was diagnosed with TM which is a disorder that attacks on the central nervous system and affects just 300 people a year.
Doctors said she would be fine, but in October 2011 her health worsened to the point where she couldn’t even tolerate light.
Mrs Winton said: ‘Penny couldn’t go to the bathroom. She stopped being able to move her legs and she was in a lot of pain.
‘Her eyes were crossed. Everything was in four. She said, “Mummy, I don’t know which mummy is you. I can see four mummiesâ€.’
Penny, who lives in Aberdeen, was rushed to Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.
At first, doctors thought she had meningitis, but after the results came back negative, Penny was sent for an MRI which confirmed she had developed TM.
Penny (pictured with her mother, Lynn) was told there was only a 30 per cent chance of her making a full recovery but after months of physiotherapy she has returned to full health
Doctors treated her with high doses of steroids, but they were not sure how much damage had been done and warned her parents that she may never walk again.
Her mother said: ‘We were told that a third of children with TM will make a full recovery, a third will make a partial recovery and the other third will make no recovery at all.’
WHAT IS TRANSVERSE MYELITIS?
TM is a rare neurological disorder which results in inflammation of the central nervous system.
It can be caused by abnormal activation of the immune system against the spinal cord but it often develops alongside other infections.
Symptoms depend on where the spinal cord is affected and on the severity of the damage caused to the myelin and the neurons in the spinal cord.
Symptoms include muscle weakness, paralysis, fatigue, depression, fever, headache and incontinence.
There are about 300 cases a year in the UK.
Treatment usually involves using drugs to reduce inflammation and then physiotherapy to help with rehabilitation.
Recovery can take up to two years – one third of patients make a good recovery, one third make a partial recovery and a third show no recovery at all.
But Penny battled on and after months of
treatment she relearned how to sit up, before building up her strength
to take her first steps.
Penny left hospital just before Christmas, but was still too weak to even carry a bowl of cereal.
However, she was determined to keep fighting and wrote a list of goals, including getting dressed and tidying her own room.
Seven
months on, Penny has crossed off every item on the checklist and is
able to move around like any other little girl her age.
Mrs Winton said if it wasn’t for the hospital staff at the hospital, Penny wouldn’t have made it back to full health.
She said: ‘Penny is living proof of what the doctors, nurses and everyone else who works in the hospital can do.
‘If it wasn’t for all the people who worked so hard for Penny, we don’t know where we’d be today.
‘These people go the extra mile.
‘It’s absolutely outstanding that we have this incredible support and service on our doorstep and we will always be so grateful for what the hospital did for us.
‘We’ll never know exactly what happened, but all we do know is that we have our little girl back.
‘The medical teams did a fantastic job with Penny, along of course with her determination. They all wanted to make her better.’
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