A Hertfordshire mum who woke up with a stomach ache ended up paralysed from the waist down and is now having to learn how to walk again.
Emese Illes-Toth had spent a weekend out and about walking, visiting a farm with her son son Almos Otvos, but awoke on the Monday morning with severe stomach pains.
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The usually healthy and active mum was used to running around with her little boy but within five days she was bed-bound and paralysed from the waist down.
An MRI scan showed the 44-year-old had transverse myelitis - a 'one-in-a-million' condition which caused inflammation on her spine, but doctors remain stumped as to what triggered it.
Emese, from Hemel Hempstead, has not been able to live at home since October 2019 and says that while she has come to terms with her condition she still cries over not being able to live with her 10-year-old son.
The mum-of-one has now set up a GoFundMe page to raise £10,000 for specialist equipment not available on the NHS which will help her to walk and return home to her son.
Emese said: "There was no accident, no warning beforehand. There was inflammation so it's not something I've done to myself from an accident or something.
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"I hadn't even been ill. I'm a fairly healthy person, to be honest, which is why it was a shock to the system.
"The first couple of weeks I cried a lot. It was mainly because I was always very active and very independent. My legs giving up on me like that was devastating.
"I have less bad days than I used to have. Everything just shrank in relevance compared to this. My bad days are mainly because I'm away from my family now, it's not even the condition.
"Sometimes I do cry because of the condition, but it's mainly because I miss everyone and want to go home.
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"I hadn't heard about it before either, and I actually graduated from high school as a nurse. I had never heard of this condition myself.
"It's a very, very rare condition. I am 'one-in-million' as it affects one to two people out of a million. It's really rare. Strange things always happen to me, so there you go.
"With hindsight, I did have skin sensitivity around my navel, but you don't really think about it. You have some sensitivity on your skin and then it goes away.
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"Then I just woke up with a really strong stomach ache. When I turned onto my stomach it went onto my back. It was really bad around my mid-section and that's where the pain was.
"The skin sensitivity intensified as well. I had to sit up straight while driving as I couldn't lean back because it was too painful when [the seat] touched my skin.
"When my right knee started to act up, it wasn't supporting my weight properly and I was limping. I still went to work, drove to work and drove my son to school, but I started to be sick as well.
"I called the GP and went to see him and he said this wasn't gastric. My right leg wasn't behaving. I couldn't control it completely from my knee.
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"By that time the pain went into my abdomen and I had some numbness in my thigh. He thought I had dislocated my spine and was very worried. He sent me to A&E immediately.
"My son's father took me to A&E and I walked in, and I haven't been home since."
Emese has been treated with steroids and since her inflammation cleared up has been relearning to walk with the help of a physiotherapist.
She is now fundraising to buy a Bioness L300 GO stimulation system which will send electrical impulses to stimulate her leg and raise it from the ground.
She added: "It would be a game-changer for me. It would change my life.
"I know it sounds silly, but every time I think about it I get this very good, very positive warm feeling inside of me and I know that's what's going to help me with the final stage of my recovery.
"They say a positive mindset and determination are 90 percent of getting better. I'm generally a positive person and I have accepted it.
"My leg just stays [in hyperextension] and it's extremely difficult for me to bend it. That's what [the equipment] helps.
"It also helps with the weak hamstrings so you can actually lift your leg up better and more easily. It helps you to go up and down the stairs.
"I'm hoping it will only take me another six months to get rid of this final thing, and then I'm back to normal."
You can donate here.
Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and MediaTopics: UK News