After losing her ability to speak, 16-year-old Megan Dixon was rushed to the hospital fearing she had suffered a stroke. Admitted for what was expected to be a four-day stay for testing, it marked the beginning of a much longer ordeal. Her hospital stay extended to two years during which she became completely unable to talk, and open her eyes. She was told she would never move again.
“I was taken into hospital because they were concerned I had had a stroke, or something, because I lost the ability to talk,” Dixon said as per BBC. “I was taken for four days of tests and came out of hospital two years later,” she added.
It all started at the age of 13 for Dixon when she started feeling unwell. Then, in an unexpected twist of fate she lost her voice, sparking fears of a stroke and prompted a hospital visit.
While the initial symptoms resembled a stroke, she was late diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a disorder that affects your movement or your senses, such as the ability to walk, swallow, see or hear.
What is Functional Neurological Disorder?
According to Mayoclinic, FND features nervous system or neurological symptoms that can’t be explained by a neurological disease or other medical condition. However, the symptoms are real and cause significant distress or problems functioning. Functional neurological disorder, the cause of which is unknown, is linked to how the brain functions, rather than damage to the brain’s structure. The condition may be triggered by a neurological disorder or by a reaction to stress or psychological or physical trauma.
The next leg of her journey was challenging but fruitful. Dixon spent her time in a neurological care facility in the east of England.
“It was not easy. I think it was a lot harder for my mum and dad to have to leave me there on my own, but I couldn’t do anything for myself. I was paralysed from the neck down,” she told the BBC.
“I couldn’t see, I couldn’t talk. I hate the word, but I was very vulnerable at the time,” Dixon said. She said that she “nearly died” in the hospital and doctors told her parents to “prepare for the worst.”
Sharing her ordeal during the time, Dixon said that her symptoms included not being able to swallow and having up to 50 seizures a day at her worst.
“I couldn’t do anything for myself, I lost the ability to talk. I couldn’t see, so I wasn’t able to open my eyes. My brain couldn’t register the difference between eyes closed and eyes being open,” she told BBC.
Light at the end of the tunnel
After 18 months of intensive physical therapy, the teen’s symptoms drastically improved which meant she could talk and see again. However, challenges in walking remain.
“I can move everything now. Obviously I can talk, I can see. I can’t walk and I’m never going to be able to walk again, but that’s because I’ve got contractions in my knees,” she told the BBC.
“I need surgery in order to bend them because my legs are stuck straight. It’s very painful, but I’m waiting on surgery, and it means I’m never going to be able to walk again,” she added.
Staying positive
At 20, Dixon has a positive outlook towards her life and believes in celebrating small victories be it moving a finder or speaking a word.
Her TikTok account details her journey from her seizures, using a self-propelled wheelchair for the first time to how she was able to walk without support in a swimming pool at the start of the year.
In one of the videos, Dixon uses stairs for the first time in over three years, using her arms to pull herself up and lower herself back down again.
The young woman is now looking forward to moving into her own home and has dreams of becoming a nail technician.
“They didn’t think I would make it to 18 and here I am at 20,” she told BBC.