“I’m learning to walk again after a rare syndrome”
This article originally appeared on Worcester News Online by Sam Greenway
The Rowland Hill Fund awarded a financial grant to Derek Jackson, after he was diagnosed with Guillian-Barre Syndrome.
Photo: Derek Jackson / Worcester News
Derek Jackson says he has been left devastated and his life completely transformed since his diagnosis, and wants to warn others of the symptoms.
The 64-year-old said his nightmare began after collapsing last August.
“It was the last day of the Eat out to Help out and I decided to go out and have a drink, and a meal with friends," he said.
“We were on the way to the Eagle Vaults, my legs just gave way from under me. There had been no warning. I haven’t walked since.”
Mr Jackson said a few weeks before he had had a tingling sensation in his legs and back.
But having gone for an X-ray and being monitored, he didn’t take much notice even though the tingling was getting worse.
“They kept assuring me it was because of my age and it was probably because my hip bones had popped out the sockets,” he said.
Mr Jackson said the doctor discharged him at the Alexandra Hospital, putting it down to the drink, as his temperature and blood pressure were all normal.
“The next day I phoned 111 because I was still ill, dizzy and dry throat, and they took me into Worcestershire Royal," he said.
“I tried to walk, and couldn’t. I was there 12 hours and they discharged me again, and they decided nothing was wrong. I went home and lay in bed for three days.
"I felt really ill then, I went back to the Worcestershire Royal and they admitted me this time, though they didn’t know what was wrong with me.
“This is what I’m keen to stress to people. Recognise the signs, know what to look out for.
"It is like a stroke on your left and right, at the same time.
"The only people who can deal with you if you have that tingling constantly in your back, arms and legs is a neurologist.
Mr Jackson, a former postman and who served in the Royal Corps of Transport for 12 years, was then diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the body’s own nervous system.
“I lay in hospital for three weeks unconscious, and woke up with a feeding tube, and being told if I got any worse I would be in intensive care," he said.
"I was in hospital for eight weeks, then was at Evesham Community Hospital, who were brilliant, until December 8.
"When I was discharged my life had changed, I had lost my independence.
"I have carers every day, I speak to the district nurse and physiotherapists.
"I’m completely destroyed basically."
Mr Jackson said he had been told it could take anything up to three years to recover and be able to walk again.
“I can take a few steps with a zimmerframe, but that’s it," Mr Jackson said.
"I now just sit in the house 24 hours a day, and if I’m lucky I’ll get out on my buggy for an hour.
"But if it gets too cold it makes it worse, so I have to go home.
“I’m going to move from where I am in Cherwell Close, in Tolladine, because this isn’t set up for someone disabled.
"I could recover in the next three years. But I will be left with tingles in the body, from the tip of the head all the way down, for life.”
Mr Jackson added as he could no longer work he wanted to thank armed forces charities The Soldiers’ Charity, SSAFA and Rowland Hill Fund for postal people, for their financial support.