A previously fit and healthy 17-year-old girl has been left paralysed and unable to speak after suffering an ultra-rare spinal stroke, which she initially mistook for menstrual cramps. Shakira Gorman, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, is now on a ventilator in intensive care at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, where she has been for over two weeks.
The condition, which typically affects people aged 50 to 70, strikes just one in every three million individuals. Shakira, a beauty student, was at her boyfriend's house two days before Christmas when she began bleeding heavily. She thought it was a heavy period, but soon lost her breath and the feeling in her arms and hands. She was rushed to hospital, where an MRI scan eventually revealed a blood clot in her spine.
Shakira is awake and can communicate through lip reading and a word board, but she cannot move apart from her fingers slightly. Her sister, Chelsea Coles, 29, said: 'She doesn't know the complexities and we want to protect her emotional wellbeing at this time. She is still herself, but she can't move.'
Before the stroke, Shakira had complained of back and shoulder pain. Her family is now urging others to recognise these warning signs. Her parents, Lesley and Darren, are spending all available visiting hours at her bedside, while relatives have launched a fundraising appeal to cover lost income and travel costs.
Doctors cannot yet predict Shakira's recovery. She is expected to be transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital for specialist care. Chelsea added: 'We don't know what the future holds. At the moment we're taking each day as it comes.'
