After contracting an incredibly rare disease, 19-year-old star athlete, Brooke Kellett, was suddenly paralyzed, reports KY 3 News. The doctors diagnosed her with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease that attacks the nerves. Doctors have no way to track how she contracted the disease. While this disease flipped Brooke’s world, she is now relearning to walk and get back to where she once was.
Just this passed December, right after her 19th birthday, Brooke said her legs locked up and suddenly she couldn’t walk. After a few days, her entire body became paralyzed. Dr. Nick Anderson shared that her body attacked her lining of the nerves. This results in loss of many motor functions in the body, unable to respond to nerve messages the way it normally would. Brooke is a multi-sport athlete, competing in wrestling and MMA. Going through this experience was not easy.
Doctors are uncertain to how she got the disease, but have expressed it may be due to eating contaminated food. While not knowing is frightening, that hasn’t stopped Brooke from fighting back to where she once was physically. She has been going to physical therapy and using a new device called LiteGait. With this therapy, they are able to isolate muscles that have weakened, and focus on building them back up. Doctors expect her to recover well, and even having a chance to make a full recovery.