The 'Sleeping Beauty' Returns to School
Manchester Evening News
____________________
Warrington (UK):
A girl described as one in a billion after developing a mysterious, paralysing illness is skipping her way back to school.Alex McMillan, eight, baffled doctors when she was struck down by a "sleeping beauty" illness which left her unable to move her limbs.
But the youngster from Warrington taught herself to walk again and has finally returned to the classroom.Her mum, Lesley, 38, said: "She has made an amazing recovery. It seems like her whole body had gone to sleep and no one could understand why.
The mystery illness began in June last year when Alex woke up in the early hours of the morning and cried hysterically to her parents that she could not move her arms.She was eventually taken to Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool where doctors said the chances of someone developing a similar, vegetative state was one in a billion.
When Alex began to lose the feeling in her legs, Lesley took her to Warrington General Hospital.Doctors suspected a brain tumour but after scans and spinal tests they weren't able to find anything.
Alex started intensive physiotherapy and occupational therapy treatment. She still has a problem using her right hand but has been able to return to her schoolmates at The Grange in Hartford, near Northwich.Alex is still having regular brain scans and doctors have dubbed her Mysterious Girl because they cannot find a reason for the illness.
Nov 29, 2005
Manchester Evening News
____________________
Warrington (UK):
A girl described as one in a billion after developing a mysterious, paralysing illness is skipping her way back to school.Alex McMillan, eight, baffled doctors when she was struck down by a "sleeping beauty" illness which left her unable to move her limbs.
But the youngster from Warrington taught herself to walk again and has finally returned to the classroom.Her mum, Lesley, 38, said: "She has made an amazing recovery. It seems like her whole body had gone to sleep and no one could understand why.
The mystery illness began in June last year when Alex woke up in the early hours of the morning and cried hysterically to her parents that she could not move her arms.She was eventually taken to Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool where doctors said the chances of someone developing a similar, vegetative state was one in a billion.
When Alex began to lose the feeling in her legs, Lesley took her to Warrington General Hospital.Doctors suspected a brain tumour but after scans and spinal tests they weren't able to find anything.
Alex started intensive physiotherapy and occupational therapy treatment. She still has a problem using her right hand but has been able to return to her schoolmates at The Grange in Hartford, near Northwich.Alex is still having regular brain scans and doctors have dubbed her Mysterious Girl because they cannot find a reason for the illness.
Nov 29, 2005
