A mysterious brain disease has left a four-year-old girl “like a newborn baby again,” according to her parents.
Lexie Forsyth of Inverness is a typical toddler who enjoys playing with her pals, but she has been suffering from an unknown sickness for the past seven months.
Her brain has swelled as a result of the disease, leaving her unable to speak, walk, or feed herself, according to the Daily Record.
Emilia Blanaru and Mark Forsyth, who are divorced, have characterized their daughter as “a new born baby again” as a result of the horrific disease.
Despite this, Lexie has fought back against the illness after months of therapy and a whopping 117 days in the hospital.
She has amazed doctors and is now able to walk the 10-minute walk to nursery, which her parents had assumed would be impossible.
Doctors are unsure if she will ever recover, as she currently requires the use of a wheelchair for lengthy distances.
But Emilia said: “Like a baby, she had to learn everything from the beginning again. We had to lift her up, she couldn’t walk, or sit, or feed herself.
“We had to put her in nappies again.
“But she never gave up. We just take it little by little each day.”
Lexie, who lives in Inverness with her mother and two-year-old brother Daniel, has been named Brave Child of the Year at a Highland Heroes awards ceremony.
Alison Canavan, Lexie’s delighted grandmother, nominated her after seeing her overcome every challenge with her contagious smile.
Emilia said: “She is a happy girl and she is always smiling.”
Lexie became unwell last summer and began vomiting and suffering seizures, which began the family’s nightmare.
Her symptoms were initially misdiagnosed as a viral infection, but her condition worsened and she went into a coma for seven days.
At the end of two months, they found out that Lexie had been hit by a very rare inflammation of the brain called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM).
Mark, from Thurso, Caithness, said: “The way they explained it, her body was fighting the virus and accidentally attacked her brain.”
Lexie went through months of speech and physiotherapy. After four months, she was able to walk unassisted and is looking forward to returning to nursery. Doctors, on the other hand, are unable to predict the future.
Emilia added: “We just have to wait and see. One thing – she is stubborn, she never gives up.”
Image Credit: Mirror
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