From Football Pitch to Hospital Bed: A Teenager's Nightmare
Seventeen-year-old Relly Ladner was pursuing her football dreams at a top US academy when disaster struck during a routine match. Clutching her shin in pain, the aspiring athlete received encouragement from her coach to continue playing, despite sensing something was seriously wrong.
That evening, a disturbing tingling sensation began creeping from her ankles to her knees, followed by complete numbness in her legs. Doctors at a New Hampshire emergency department initially dismissed her symptoms as dehydration, sending her home with false reassurance.
The following morning brought the terrifying reality: Ladner woke completely paralysed from the waist down. "I was terrified," she recalled to Daily Mail. "It was the worst feeling I have ever experienced."
The Devastating Diagnosis and Determined Recovery
Rushed back to hospital, medical professionals conducted reflex tests and a spinal tap before delivering the shocking diagnosis: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disorder affecting approximately one in 100,000 people where the immune system attacks the nerves.
"They were unsure if I was ever going to be able to walk again," Ladner remembered. "They said I might never be able to stand and walk by myself again, or play football." The timing couldn't have been worse - she had been planning to attend Dartmouth College on a football scholarship.
Doctors acted quickly, administering immunoglobulin infusions from healthy donors to combat the advancing paralysis. The treatment halted the numbness progression, though Ladner also developed aspetic meningitis as a complication from the plasma treatment.
Defying the Odds: From Hospital Bed to Marathon Finishes
Facing an uncertain future, Ladner channeled her determination into eight months of intensive rehabilitation. She painstakingly relearned basic movements - climbing out of bed, walking, running and eventually kicking a football again.
Now 25 and living in New York City, Ladner has not only returned to football but discovered a passion for long-distance running. She has completed three marathons, including two New York City marathons, with the most recent occurring earlier this month.
"People always ask me why I'm motivated to run," Ladner reflected. "Having had Guillain-Barré, and having been told that I was never going to be able to walk again, that motivates me. Even on days when training gets hard, I think back to when I would have wished to be doing what I am now."
While her immune system remains compromised, making her susceptible to common viruses, Ladner's athletic capabilities have dramatically improved. She continues to draw strength from her medical ordeal, using it as fuel for her running ambitions and never taking her health for granted.
