Feeling sick
, she
fell asleep in her bed the night before Father's Day.
In the morning, her family
would have no reason
to celebrate,
quite the opposite
: they found her
unconscious
,
they couldn't wake
her up .
A UK woman thought she was suffering from a
simple cold
and
went to bed
not knowing that her life
would not be the same
since then: she
ended up
in hospital with a serious illness and
lost much of her memory
.
Claire Muffett-Reece
is
43 years old
, a journalist and lives with her husband
Scott
and their two young children in the English county of
Essex
.
In June 2021, as the protagonist of this story explained, she began to experience symptoms similar to what she defined as a
common cold.
Also, she was
lethargic
.
Husband.
She and her husband Scott have two young children.
Photo: @mrscreece.
On the 19th of that month, the British woman fell
asleep early
.
"The next morning, Scott tried to wake me up,
but I didn't move
. They took me by ambulance to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where I suffered from seizures. They
connected me to a respirator
," she recounted in an article written by her in
The Sun
newspaper .
Connected to the device, the patient
was still having seizures
.
After a week, the doctors decided to transfer her to the
Royal London Hospital
in order to receive
specialized help
.
The illness
Once she arrived at the health center, she underwent a
battery of tests
.
At first, experts assumed that she had
bleeding
in her brain.
Despite the fact that the latter was ruled out,
her diagnosis was not good
.
"Neurologists
confirmed
that my brain
was swollen
from
encephalitis
, probably caused by a
virus
that had infected me. Scott and my parents were told to
prepare for the worst
," he said.
Encephalitis is a "
rare
" but "
very serious
" disease, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) reported on its website.
"
It can be life-threatening
and requires
urgent treatment
in hospital.
Anyone can be affected
, but the
youngest
and
oldest
are
most at risk
," they clarified.
Interview.
On the local Channel 4 show Steph's Packed Lunch. Photo: Capture/Channel 4.
"Encephalitis
sometimes
begins with
flu-like symptoms
. More severe symptoms appear
over hours, days, or weeks
, and include: confusion or disorientation, seizures or seizures, personality and behavior changes, slurred speech , weakness or loss of movement in some parts of the body and loss of consciousness," the entity added.
Regarding the causes of this disease, he asserted her,
they are not clear.
"It could be caused by
viral infections,
such as the
herpes simplex virus
or
chicken pox
; a
problem with the immune system
, which mistakenly attacks the brain causing
inflammation
;
or
bacterial or fungal infections.
Some types of encephalitis are transmitted by
mosquitoes
(such as Japanese encephalitis),
ticks
(such as tick-borne encephalitis), and
mammals
(such as rabies).
You can't catch encephalitis from someone else
," the NHS stated.
Muffett-Reece spent
16 nights
in intensive care, connected to
life support
.
Fortunately,
she survived
.
And a cocktail of medication
managed to contain
his
constant seizures of her.
Interned.
The patient stayed 16 nights in intensive care.
Photo: @mrscreece.
During the period in which he remained in the hospital,
five weeks
in total, he suffered
intense hallucinations
.
"He was hallucinating,
quite delusional
at that stage, which is quite normal if you've been on a ventilator. Now let's
laugh about it
, he would tell anyone who would listen that
Phil Collins was my cousin
... He obviously isn't. I thought
there were wasps on the ceiling
or
flies were getting into my ears
. It was
very strange
," he said in an interview on
Channel 4
's Steph's Packed Lunch
program
.
20 years of erased memories
One of those days, his family got clues that something
was wrong with his memory:
"One of the first things I asked was: "How are our cats?" They told me that they
died
(one of them
many years ago
and the other a
week before
I fell ill.) From there
it became clear that some 20 years of memories had vanished,
"
he told
The Sun.
The woman
recognized her husband and both children
, although
she did not remember
having given birth
,
her marriage,
birthdays
, and their personal preferences, among other things.
Looking in the mirror, she also did not remember
some wrinkles
that she had.
Wedding.
The woman did not remember her wedding, among other dates.
Photo: @mrscreece.
On the other hand, the Covid pandemic, the attacks of 9/11 in New York and those of 7/7 in London
had been completely erased from his memory
.
"It was
terrifying
to discover
world-changing
events that I couldn't remember," he said.
"The neurologists explained to me that memory loss was a
common side effect
of encephalitis, and
there was no guarantee
that I would get it
back
," he added.
Shortly after leaving the medical center,
he could not walk more
than a few steps.
She felt
weak
: her husband had to help her bathe and dress.
"I felt
helpless and confused
when my family confirmed that I was more
irritable
than usual, which was a side effect of my brain injury," she said.
The recuperation
He is currently feeling
better
, but is still
not 100% recovered
.
His short-term memory
is poor
and he "
rarely" sleeps
through the night.
"I wake up with
nerve pain and itching
. I got rid of my driver's license for two years and
I can't cook for myself
in case I have a seizure," she said.
Journalist.
He returned to his job some time after suffering from encephalitis.
Photo: @mrscreece.
Muffett-Reece resumed her job as a journalist: "My career is slowly
starting over
, and it was a relief to realize that I did
n't forget how to write
when I interviewed some celebrities, even if
I had to Google who they were
!"
The mother-of-two was
optimistic
about her condition: "As for my lost memories, there is still a
slim chance
that they will return, but if not,
I will have to create many happy new ones."
look too
He was itchy all over his body, he thought it was from a soap and ended up with a serious illness
look too
He felt bad, they lent him a smart bracelet, and then he found out that he had a deadly disease