A FORMER Bexhill high school student whose illness was misdiagnosed has described the moment she ‘died’.

Kim Francis, 24, first became ill on August 28 last year. Whilst at her job as a barmaid Kim had back ache and says her toes were “a bit tingly”. Putting these aches and pains down to wearing shoes with heels she wasn’t too concerned.

But by the morning of August 29 Kim knew something was very wrong. She said: “I could not get out of bed and my legs felt like jelly.”

Mum-of-three Kim was taken to the Conquest hospital where she was diagnosed with sciatica; a possible symptom of a ‘pinched nerve’ which can affect one or more of the lower spinal nerves.

She was given pain relief medication, crutches to help her walk and sent home.

But the next day, along with worsening back ache, Kim was losing the feeling in her legs. Her parents, Paul and Hazel, called round to see their daughter and immediately called the GP.

Paul said: “We were very concerned - by then Kim was paralysed from the waist down.”

Kim’s GP rang for an ambulance but there was a four-hour wait before it arrived. Kim was going downhill fast, she said: “My mum and brother had to carry me up to the loo, I was screaming with pain and couldn’t feel my legs. When I tried to stand I fell to the floor.”

Kim was rushed to the Conquest hospital’s A&E department where doctors admitted to her mum and dad that they didn’t know what was wrong. Paul said: “They told us that they didn’t have a clue.”

Kim was given more painkillers and morphine but by 3am the following morning she said she was beside herself with pain and screaming in agony. “I rang my parents and begged them to come and get me, I was in excruciating pain. My voice was raspy, I was struggling to breathe, and my body was completely limp. I didn’t know what was happening and I was scared.”

Paul said without a positive diagnosis it was difficult for medical professionals to treat Kim.

Finally a breakthrough came when a relative who worked at a GP surgery in Poole, Dorset, got in touch. They had researched Kim’s symptoms and said they pointed to Guillian Barre Syndrome (GBS). Affecting around 1,500 people in the UK each year GBS is difficult to with detect. An autoimmune disease, GBS causes loss of sensation and weakness due to an inflammation of peripheral nerves. Peripheral nerves connect the central nervous system. Once diagnosed, GBS patients have to be treated as a medical emergency.

Kim had now been in hospital for four days. Rapidly deteriorating she said she felt her life slipping away. “I couldn’t breathe and my chest felt really heavy. I remember a nurse coming to my bed and pulling the emergency cord. I took my last raspy breath and then it was dark and peaceful. I remember being in so much pain and then it stopped.

“ I thought that was it. All the pain had gone. It was peaceful, tranquil.”

Paul said Kim’s heart stopped for around two to three minutes and gave thanks to expert nursing staff who “brought her back to life”.

Kim then recalls “lots of tubes” and a nurse’s reassuring words, “everything will be fine.”

Kim slipped into in a coma. With none of her internal organs functioning properly she was given a tracheotomy, put on a ventilator and transferred to the Princess Royal Hospital at Haywards Heath where she remained in a coma for three weeks. GBS was diagnosed and when strong enough Kim was given a blood plasma exchange. Her stomach wouldn’t accept food and she was fed through a tube. The once energetic young woman who loved roller-blading, gymnastics and running, lost three stone in weight.

Kim’s family placed pictures of her children, Jessie, Alan and Alfie, around her bed so when she woke from the coma they were the first thing she saw and Kim says it’s the thought of her children that kept her going as she faced a long battle to regain her strength.

Kim was transferred back to the Conquest for four weeks and then for rehab at the Irvine unit at Bexhill hospital where Paul said she received “a lot of care and intense physiotherapy to help her walk again.” She was finally able to make it home to be with her young family in time for Christmas.

Kim remained in a wheelchair until March this year, progressing to a Zimmer frame and then crutches.

It can take up to two years to fully recover from GBS and some people do not fully recover.

But Kim is hopeful that she will. “I was petrified that I would never walk again but I’m not one to give in. It’s my children that keep me going and motivate me.”

Kim says she still has bad days but her experience has given her a positive outlook on life. “I really feel I did die and I don’t ever want to waste anything; you never know how much time you have left.

“I’ve been through it, I’m alive and that’s what counts.”

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