TM changed my life

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My life changed on the 1st April 2007 (not a funny April fools) when I was rushed into hospital with Transverse Myelitis (TM) at the age of 24! I had been suffering from a flu type cold for around 3 weeks before I was taken into hospital on that fateful Sunday morning and I couldn't shift the cold. On the Friday before I was taken into hospital I wok up and couldn't go to the toilet for a pee, I thought it was just the cold affecting my bladder and I was so ill with what I soon found out was fluid on my lungs that I guessed it was that...I booked that Friday off work and went back to bed.

By 6pm that evening I still hadn't gone to the toilet and I was in excruciating pain as my bladder was so full, my parents took me to A&E, the hospital drained over 1litre of urine from my bladder, told me I probably had an inflamed prostate and sent me home with a catheter inserted and told me they would send a regional nurse to check on me on the Monday! 

I went home from the hospital and I was very unsteady on my feet with a catheter inserted and REALLY REALLY ill! I got home and slept that night...I awoke to not been able to move my legs, I was so ill with the Flu that we assumed I had muscle weakening and just slept the whole day! I then woke up on Sunday 1st April and panicked as I couldn't even sit up...the TM had hit me hard over that Saturday and I was paralysed up to just under my chest, I was then rushed into hospital and the rest is history! 

In hospital I was quickly diagnosed with either TM or Guillone Barre syndrome! By the time I had been seen in A&E by a doctor who knew about this rare condition it was too late to has and MRI scan so I was moved 20 miles to the QE hospital in Birmingham...here they did an MRI and confirmed it was a swelling around my spine and I had legions in my brain...luckily the brain ones never affected me. They did however tell my parents that the fluid on my chest was that bad that I may not survive the night due to the TM stoping my immune system! That was a scary night for my family! Luckily (obviously) I survived it!

the next few days I was told by specialists that they didn't know how severely I would be affected and if I would ever walk again...I couldn't feel anything below my nipples! It was a very scary time! They put me on a course of steroids and helped me kick the Flu also! They also told me that the only course of action was to start physio asap and to get my body working to see what result I could get back.

To cut a long story short I was moved from intensive care to 2 different hospitals where I eventually ended up at a specialist physio hospital for spinal conditions. I was there for nearly 4 months where they worked through getting me off a catheter and onto medication for my bladder and bowels, I also did daily physio all day to see how my body would react and if I could walk again...luckily I did, I had the right care (phenomenal care from the NHS to be honest) and I walked out of hospital unaided!

I am now walking fine and able to lead a pretty normal life, I still have problems with my bladder and bowels and get leg spasms but I have Botox on my bladder and I self catheterise every time so I can pee normally. I got married last year to my beautiful wife and I run my own business so life is pretty fantastic but I think TM made me stronger mentally and who I am today even if it still gives me problems that I have to live with everyday!