'A mosquito bite left me paralyzed': Woman, 23, left unable to move from the neck down during Australian holiday
Natasha Porter developed Guillain-Barre syndrome while travelling
The condition causes the body to attack its own immune system
She was in a wheelchair for four months and paralysed for three weeks
Was warned she might die if her diaphragm also became paralysed
It was six months before she was fully recovered and able to go back work
By Emma Innes
A woman bitten by a mosquito while on holiday in Australia was left paralysed from the neck down.
Natasha Porter was confined to a wheelchair for four months and was unable to move anything below her neck for three weeks after suffering the bite.
Ms Porter was two weeks into the holiday of a lifetime in Australia when she developed Guillain-Barre syndrome - a disease which causes the body attacks its own nervous system.
She first noticed numbness in one toe, but within four days she could barely walk.
Doctors told her the fast-moving paralysis could freeze her diaphragm within hours and that there was a chance she could die.
Ms Porter watched helplessly as she lost control of her entire body within hours. She was unable to feel her hands, feet or legs - or move anything below her neck.
‘Every time I went to sleep at night I wondered if I might not wake up,’ said Ms Porter, from Crawley, West Sussex.
‘All I could think was I'm 23 - I don't want to die.’
Ms Porter flew to Western Australia in March 2012 and spent seven months working in a cafe to save up for a trip down the country’s east coast.
However, she began to notice numbness in her toe two weeks after arriving in Cairns. The paralysis then moved to her hands two days later.
Ms Porter visited a pharmacist who dismissed her symptoms as an allergic reaction and prescribed antihistamines.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2335644/A-mosquito-bite-left-paralysed-Woman-23-nearly-died-bitten-holiday-Australia.html#ixzz2VuJoM1Nt
Natasha Porter developed Guillain-Barre syndrome while travelling
The condition causes the body to attack its own immune system
She was in a wheelchair for four months and paralysed for three weeks
Was warned she might die if her diaphragm also became paralysed
It was six months before she was fully recovered and able to go back work
By Emma Innes
A woman bitten by a mosquito while on holiday in Australia was left paralysed from the neck down.
Natasha Porter was confined to a wheelchair for four months and was unable to move anything below her neck for three weeks after suffering the bite.
Ms Porter was two weeks into the holiday of a lifetime in Australia when she developed Guillain-Barre syndrome - a disease which causes the body attacks its own nervous system.
She first noticed numbness in one toe, but within four days she could barely walk.
Doctors told her the fast-moving paralysis could freeze her diaphragm within hours and that there was a chance she could die.
Ms Porter watched helplessly as she lost control of her entire body within hours. She was unable to feel her hands, feet or legs - or move anything below her neck.
‘Every time I went to sleep at night I wondered if I might not wake up,’ said Ms Porter, from Crawley, West Sussex.
‘All I could think was I'm 23 - I don't want to die.’
Ms Porter flew to Western Australia in March 2012 and spent seven months working in a cafe to save up for a trip down the country’s east coast.
However, she began to notice numbness in her toe two weeks after arriving in Cairns. The paralysis then moved to her hands two days later.
Ms Porter visited a pharmacist who dismissed her symptoms as an allergic reaction and prescribed antihistamines.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2335644/A-mosquito-bite-left-paralysed-Woman-23-nearly-died-bitten-holiday-Australia.html#ixzz2VuJoM1Nt