Amanda Robertson

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - On Christmas Eve, Amanda Robertson, 24, lay paralyzed from the neck down.She labored to breathe, and she couldn't speak above a whisper.

An undetected case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a nerve disorder, had ravaged her body.

"I really, really thought I was going to die," she said.
...
"I'm not mad that they didn't catch it," Robertson said.
...
Robertson had thrown up for two days before she developed Guillain-Barre.

A week before Christmas, Robertson's feet started tingling.She blamed the sensation on a new pair of shoes.Within a few days, the tingling spread to her fingers, prompting her first emergency-department visit.

Robertson had been prescribed Prozac for the depression that affected her after a friend's sudden death.After three weeks, she stopped taking it.

"I didn't want to be one of those people who have to depend on medicine," she said.When someone stops taking Prozac abruptly, numbness can be a side effect, and doctors figured that was the case with Robertson.She went back on the Prozac.

She returned to the hospital when her symptoms persisted.She has asthma, and she began having trouble breathing.Her usual asthma treatment didn't help.Her mother, a nurse, suspected Guillain-Barre and mentioned the disorder as a possibility.But once again, doctors sent her home without testing her for the disorder.

Her legs grew weak, and she had trouble walking.By Christmas Eve, Robertson couldn't move.
...
Robertson spent 3½ weeks in the hospital, two of them in acute care.She couldn't feed or dress herself or even brush her own teeth.She felt like one of the patients she works with as an activities assistant at Oak Summit Nursing Center."I was helpless - helpless," she said.

Pain from her inflamed nerves wracked her body.She willed her body to move, but it wouldn't.By the time she was transferred to the Sticht Center, where she spent another five weeks, she could wiggle her fingers.

There, she underwent grueling bouts of therapy, three hours a day, six days a week.One of her first challenges was to sit up without feeling sick.

"I don't think I ever tried as hard at anything as I did to get better," she said.And she did.By the time she left the Sticht Center, she was walking.

Her recovery now is almost complete.She no longer requires therapy or medication.She has regained some of the muscle mass and 25 pounds that she lost in the hospital.She is back at work full time and back to playing church-league softball.But she can't yet play her usual position in the outfield.Although she can walk and jog, her legs retain some weakness, and she can't run.

Her chances of a recurrence are about 10 percent, she said.But she still frets over her health and tries to take care of herself.She eats better and exercises more.

"If I'm sick, if I get a cold, I take a day off from work," she said.

In December 2003, Robertson was paralyzed from the neck down by Guillain-Barre, a disease that inflames the nerves.
...
Last Christmas Eve, Amanda Robertson, 24, lay paralyzed from the neck down.She labored to breathe, and she couldn't speak above a whisper.

An undetected case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a nerve disorder, had ravaged her body.

"I really, really thought I was going to die," she said.
...
"I'm not mad that they didn't catch it," Robertson said.
...
Robertson had thrown up for two days before she developed Guillain-Barre.

A week before Christmas, Robertson's feet started tingling.She blamed the sensation on a new pair of shoes.Within a few days, the tingling spread to her fingers, prompting her first emergency-department visit.

Robertson had been prescribed Prozac for the depression that affected her after a friend's sudden death.After about three weeks, she stopped taking it.

"I didn't want to be one of those people who have to depend on medicine," she said.When someone stops taking Prozac abruptly, numbness can be a side effect, and doctors figured that was the case with Robertson.She went back on the Prozac.

She returned to the hospital when her symptoms persisted.She has asthma, and she began having trouble breathing.Her usual asthma treatment didn't help.Her mother, a nurse, suspected Guillain-Barre and mentioned the disorder as a possibility.But once again, doctors sent her home without testing her for the disorder.

Her legs grew weak, and she had trouble walking.By Christmas Eve, Robertson couldn't move.
...
Robertson spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital, two of them in acute care.She couldn't feed or dress herself or even brush her own teeth.She felt like one of the patients she works with as an activities assistant at Oak Summit Nursing Center.

"I was helpless, helpless," she said.

Pain from her inflamed nerves wracked her body.She willed her body to move, but it wouldn't.By the time she was transferred to the Sticht Center, where she spent another five weeks, she could wiggle her fingers.

There, she underwent grueling bouts of therapy, three hours a day, six days a week.One of her first challenges was to sit up without feeling sick.She had to use a special reclining wheelchair.

"I don't think I ever tried as hard at anything as I did to get better," she said.And she did.By the time she left the Sticht Center, she was walking.

Her recovery now is almost complete.She no longer requires therapy or medication.She has regained some of the muscle mass and 25 pounds that she lost in the hospital.She is back at work full time and back to playing church-league softball.But she can't yet play her usual position in the outfield.Although she can walk and jog, her legs retain some weakness, and she can't run.

Her chances of a recurrence of Guillain-Barre are only about10 percent, she said.But she still frets over her health and tries to take care of herself.She eats better and exercises more.

"If I'm sick, if I get a cold, I take a day off from work," she said.If she feels stressed, she sits down for half an hour.