MUM S TEPS UP AFTER A LIFE ‘ RIPPED APART’

A TOWNSVILLE mum will start fundraising to promote awareness for a rare and debilitating condition that she said “ripped” her life apart.

It took six hours for Annissa Hilton to be temporarily paralysed from the neck down before she was diagnosed with a condition known as Guillain Barre Syndrome in December 2013 three days shy of her 19th birthday.

GBS is an auto- immune condition in which the nerves are attacked by the body’s own immune system.

After the diagnosis, the Cranbrook resident spent 4 ½ months in Townsville Hospital’s rehabilitation centre learning to walk and use her arms.

Then last October when Ms Hilton was back to some kind of “normal” she relapsed and spent another two months in hospital. It took more than a year before she walked on her own.

Today Ms Hilton still cannot use one arm, has limited movement in her limbs and experiences altered hot and cold sensations throughout her body.

“My normal is nothing like anyone else’s normal,” she said. “I still can’t feel my right leg so basically it’s about learning to walk on it without feeling it.”

Last month Ms Hilton became the North Queensland ambassador for the Guillain Barre Syndrome Foundation of Australia and wants to use the role to raise funds promote community awareness for the condition.

“My life was ripped out from under me without even a warning, independence gone, ability to be a mum gone,” she said. “I have never been able to pick up my son, cannot play with him like other mums and rely on daily help from my mother or partner for simple everyday activities.”

Ms Hilton said that, as ambassador, she wanted to help improve the quality of life of people living with GBS and be a positive role model as a sufferer of the condition.