A STAFFORDSHIRE optician is battling to get her life back to normal after being struck down by a rare and debilitating virus which attacked her spine and left her wheel-chair bound.
Gina Larkin, an optometrist at Colin Lee Opticians in Rugeley, became ill in November 2008, and within a month, was paralysed from the chest down.
“I had had what felt like flu, and been unwell, but felt like I was getting better when I awoke one morning to a tingling sensation in my legs,” explained the 53-year-old, from Austrey, near Tamworth.
“Within two weeks I could not walk, and a further fortnight on, I had no movement from the chest down and was wheelchair bound.”
Gina had contracted a rare and aggressive virus, Transverse Myelitis, which attacked her spine and inflamed her nervous system.
“I had no choice but to cope with it, and found some inner strength to help me through, but I never envisaged at that time that it would leave me disabled,” said Gina, who has two grown-up sons and a step-daughter.
“Whatever my doctors have recommended I have done – I cycle, and can now do 25 miles on my trike, I swim, I do physiotherapy. My muscles are still strong, but the virus has left a scar on my spine, which is why the message is not getting through to my legs from my brain.”
She is now able to get about using sticks, but has had to learn to walk all over again, and is unlikely to ever have the full mobility she enjoyed before the virus.
Prior to her illness, Gina also frequently helped her husband John at the Starfish Project in Tamworth, a charity giving help and advice to vulnerable people. She still helps out whenever she can, offering a friendly ear to people with problems ranging from drug abuse to homelessness.
She has always been very active, and had been fell-walking in the Lake District just a fortnight before her illness struck.
“It is difficult to believe how quickly things can change – one weekend, I was on top of a mountain, literally, and just a fortnight later, I could not even get out of bed,” explained Gina.
She returned to work at Colin Lee Opticians in Rugeley after three and a half months, initially working a day a week, then three, and since the new year, has now increased this to seven days over a fortnight.
Her boss, Clive Marchant, director of Colin Lee Opticians, said it is a reflection of Gina’s determination that she is back at work, and continuing to serve her patients so well.
“Gina has not allowed her illness to faze her, and she returned to work determined to carry on as she had before,” he said.
“Her reduced mobility has made everyone in the practise, and indeed across the company, take greater consideration as to what it is like for others using our facilities who have a disability of any kind.
“Since Gina’s illness was diagnosed, everyone has been concerned about her, and we are delighted to have her back.”
Like every other area of her life, Gina said she was very focused on getting back to where she had been before the illness, as far as she possibly could.
“Apart from the fact I have trouble bending down to reach things in my filing cabinet, there is not much about my working life that is different,” she said.
“I am on sticks, and slower at getting about, but I am still able to do my job, and have been overwhelmed by the support of my patients, which has made coming back to work so much easier. We have scheduled longer appointment times to allow for all of this, which means that my patients still get the very best eye examination.
“I don’t want to go on about what the virus has done to me – but I did want to say how wonderful people have been.
“As soon as I returned to Colin Lee Opticians in Rugeley, my patients offered me so much support. They have all had a kind word, all been encouraging, and without that kind of backing, it would have been very difficult returning to work and trying to get back to normal.
“They have been inspirational. Many have commented about how much I have achieved, and praised me for my strength – if I have helped them that’s great, but I don’t really see myself as an inspiration.”
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