A young girl has been rendered paralyzed from the neck down after contracting the flu.
Fourteen-year-old Lexi Brown began feeling unwell in December last year, experiencing symptoms such as a fever and dizziness. Days later, she frantically called her mother, crying out in severe pain.
Hailing from Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, Lexi, a GCSE student, was urgently taken to the hospital after undergoing CPR, where she was placed in a medically induced coma.
Medical experts now believe that Lexi may have endured a spinal stroke, possibly instigated by the flu virus.
Upon regaining consciousness, Lexi found herself unable to walk, talk, or breathe without assistance and has since remained hospitalized, reliant on a ventilator.
Her mother, Stacy Grantham, 33, described Lexi, who has since turned 15, as a once “healthy and active” teenager with a deep passion for singing.
Recalling the ordeal, Ms Grantham said: ‘She phoned me, screaming in pain.
‘You know when you hear a certain scream, and you just know it’s something serious? It was that.
Lexi Brown (pictured), 14, fell ill in December last year with a temperature and dizziness – ringing her mother a few days later screaming in pain as she could not move her arm
Ms Grantham said her daughter felt she had ‘lost everything she loves’ and ‘cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel’. She is pictured here before the illness
‘She was so healthy and active, a really passionate singer and she loved theatre,’ Ms Grantham said. Lexi is pictured here in hospital
‘She was so healthy and active, a really passionate singer and she loved theatre.’
Ms Grantham said her daughter felt she had ‘lost everything she loves’ and ‘cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel’.
She added: ‘It’s something no mum ever wants to see or hear, but we’re trying to stay positive for her.’
By the time Ms Grantham had rushed home after receiving her daughter’s call, paramedics and air ambulance crew had arrived and were resuscitating Lexi.
She was put into a ‘neuroprotective’ coma at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge until medics could figure out the problem.
Five days later, Lexi woke up and was told she had suffered a stroke in her spinal cord.
Ms Grantham, who is raising money on Just Giving to help fund Lexi’s ongoing treatment, said: ‘You picture a stroke as an older person, you don’t think it can happen to a healthy 14-year-old.
‘They never found a cause – the only thing they can go on is that she had the flu, but she had no underlying conditions.
Lexi Brown is pictured with her father. The family have launched a fundraiser to help with the costs of travel, private physio and other needs
‘When she woke, she was paralysed from the neck down and we were told she’d have no movement again, and be ventilated for the rest of her life.’
Lexi is now going through intensive physiotherapy in the hopes her muscle strength might be regained.
She can talk through a tracheostomy tube and uses a ventilator to breathe at night, but is now growing strong enough to breathe for herself during the day.
The teenager has also regained some movement in her limbs but is unable to use them for ‘functional things’ such as feeding herself and pushing her own wheelchair.
Ms Grantham said: ‘She can now talk as she would before, but her voice is huskier and she has an uncomfortable tube in her neck.
‘She was an avid singer and her voice has been taken away, that’s been devastating for her.’
The family said they had seen positive signs over time that Lexi would be able to regain movement as muscles ‘wake back up’ with strength training and rehabilitation.
But Ms Grantham said: ‘It’s so difficult, because the progress is so small. She sat up by herself for 30 seconds the other day, which is huge because we were told she wouldn’t be able to do that.’
The teenager has also regained some movement in her limbs but is unable to use them for ‘functional things’ such as feeding herself and pushing her own wheelchair. She is pictured here before the illness
Lexi is regularly visited by her mother, her father Craig Brown, 37, stepmother Lou Baird–Brown, 33, and brothers Jake Brown, 12, and Theo Brown, one.
However, she is unable to return to her family home as the property is rented, making wheelchair–friendly adaptations difficult.
The family have now joined the local council housing register to stay in a suitable place for Lexi when she is discharged, with support from carers.
They have launched a fundraiser to help with the costs of travel, private physio and other needs.
Ms Grantham said: ‘I don’t think there is anything that could have been done for Lexi – there were no warning signs.
‘It’s what we do now, how everyone is coming together to support Lexi.
‘It’s not over anytime soon and we’re living in a state of survival – it’s a confronting thing, but we’re trying to stay positive.
‘But I’ll forever tell people that Lexi was home alone, and saved her own life by calling me for help. She wouldn’t be here today otherwise.’
