Imagine waking up, not being able to move a single muscle? Well that's what it was like on Septemmber 16th 2012. Earlier that morning, around 1am, I had woken with an almighty migraine. I attempted to drink some water but instead it just dribbled out of my mouth, I couldn't swallow at all. Panic set in and I tried walking to my parents bedroom next to mine. I stumbled and nearly collapsed, my legs didn't work anymore. My dad came in and asked what was wrong but my words jumbled inside my head and stuck at the back of my throat- nothing would come out.
My mum called an 'out of hours' doctor and he came and took my blood pressure and blood sugar- everything was fine but seeing my condition and ambulance was called and I was taken to A&E. By now I was incapable of walking and talking, not even my hand would move properly to write down that I wasn't drunk or had taken drugs that night.
A&E was awful. No one knew what was wrong with me. My parents watched helplessly as the mystery illness told hold of my body further. I slipped in and out of consciousness, my hearing becoming more muffled.
And then everything went white.
I woke in a strange little room. I tried scratching my face but my hand didn't move. Nothing moved. My breathing was shallow and my hearing sounded distant, and echoed, like I was underwater. I was suffocating in this shell of a body.
It was 5am.
Then I was taken to Addenbrooks' Hospital and there I received an MRI confirming the worst. I'd had a stroke. Not just any stroke. A huge brain stem stroke. I was lucky to even be alive.
I was now 'locked-in'; a condition where not a single muscle moves. My eyes rolled around in my head and my hearing was still muffled; what was happening?! This is unreal, it's a dream. Things like this don't happen to me. I'm not meant to be here.
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