Gabriella McAlister's Recovery from FND

Gabriella is a young aspiring 16 year old hockey player, who plays in the specialist role of the goalkeeper. Her journey began when she in fell in love with hockey at the age of 7, getting her first goalkeeper kit shortly after wards. She played at the Copperbowl on New year's Day when she was only 10yrs old as a representative of her school, club and county all before turning 12.

4yrs ago while training in the summer she collapsed and was rushed to hospital. Appendix and ovarian cysts were removed followed by an infection and re-admittance to hospital. It was shortly after this that the seizures began to start but only occasionally. There were lots of hospital visits and exhaustive tests before she was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FNDs). This got worse and worse until the 10th January 2021 when she was struck with 2 massive seizures lasting up to 45 minutes each and resulted in complete memory loss , the loss of her speech and ability to walk.

She has managed to regain the use of one leg and most of her speech but she is still having to work through her memory side of things. Last year, Gabriella was selected to trial for England's under 16 age grade and battled through the week long trial process going up against keepers throughout the country and managed to make the last 3. But due to the constant seizures, she has been unable to attend most of her training. We aim to raise money towards her recovery, which includes carers fees & other equipment that she may need in the future.