Hi, my name is Lydia and I’m fundraising to donate money to the charity ‘Transverse Myelitis Society’.

In December 2021, after coming home from my first term at university, I started getting excruciating pain in my upper back. This then developed into a tingling feeling in my arms and legs and then numbness causing me to not being able to move. It was diagnosed as idiopathic transverse myelitis a few weeks later in hospital after numerous invasive tests. Transverse myelitis is a rare neurological condition caused by inflammation (swelling) of the spinal cord. The swelling damages the nerves and can leave permanent scars or lesions. The scars or lesions interrupt the communication between the nerves in the spinal cord and the rest of the body. This left me as an incomplete tetraplegic and doctors not knowing why this had happened. This condition can affect each person very differently depending on where the inflammation occurred in the spine and in my case, with it happening in my C6/7 part of my spinal cord, led to a pretty severe case with me being wheelchair bound with lack of movement in my body, with my left side being more affected and continued numbness from the chest down.

The TM society helped me and my family a lot early on in my diagnosis with information on this very rare condition and supportive of any questions we needed. They were there to help my parents understand what was happening as my mental health hit rock bottom resulting in my trying to block the whole world out. With continued physio after leaving hospital last year after spending 9 and a half months in both Southampton General and Salisbury Spinal unit, I have made progress such as more movement in my right leg and am stronger physically but that would not have happened without TM Society. I wanted to do this fundraiser to emphasise my gratitude for everything they did for me and also to spread awareness on this very rare but very impactful autoimmune condition.

All funds from this page as well as a charity bake sale I will be doing later in the year, will be donated to the TM society.