A 14-year-old girl from Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, has been left paralysed from the neck down after suffering a spinal stroke triggered by flu. Lexi Brown, now 15, contracted the flu in December 2024 and initially appeared to recover, but on December 16 she called her mother, Stacy Grantham, in agony, unable to move her arm.
Paramedics arrived to find Lexi had stopped breathing and required CPR. She was rushed to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where doctors confirmed a spinal stroke and placed her in a five-day induced coma. Upon waking, she was unable to walk, speak, or breathe without assistance.
Doctors have been unable to determine a definitive cause for the stroke but believe the flu episode may have triggered it. Lexi, a former theatre performer and passionate singer, remains in hospital, reliant on a ventilator to breathe overnight, though she can now breathe independently during the day.
Her mother described the devastating impact: 'She says to me, everything I love, I've now lost. She can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.' Lexi is undergoing intensive physiotherapy and has shown small signs of progress, such as sitting up by herself for 30 seconds.
The family cannot make their rented home wheelchair-accessible and have joined the council housing list to secure suitable accommodation for Lexi's eventual discharge. They remain hopeful for her recovery, with Stacy adding, 'We're trying to stay positive for her.'
