How I Became Paralyzed Overnight

If you guys have anymore questions... i’m going to do a q&a. so please leave some questions down below! Also thank you for all the support on this video. I love hearing your story and can’t wait to keep posting videos so you can see a little more into my life!

Here is a summary of her story: Sydney was a 13-year-old girl who suddenly became ill with extreme fatigue, lack of appetite, and chest and back pain. Doctors initially misdiagnosed her with a lung infection and heart inflammation. Her condition worsened and she became paralyzed from the chest down due to a rare spinal cord compression from a staph infection in her back. She had surgery to remove the infection but it damaged her spinal cord and she was left paralyzed. She has regained some movement in her legs and toes after months of recovery but still cannot walk. Her experience serves as a warning about misdiagnoses and how spinal infections, though rare, can lead to paralysis if not caught early. The video tells her story to raise awareness about these kinds of neurological complications.

As a doctor, your story has made me hyperalert to any patient who presents with vague pain like this. I can see how easily it was missed. I am so sorry this happened to you, but you are so mature and positive. I wish you the best.

My mother-in-law got staph and went to the ER 7 different times and they said her back pain was due to age and she passed away at home. During the autopsy they said she got a staph infection in her back and went up her spine and into her brain. You are truly a one in a million and I'm so thankful for you to be here to share your story.

Being a 13 year old, having your legs stop working on the fly, and being concerned about how your family and doctors would feel seeing you panic is so crazy. The amount of care and love you must have for others, I’m so grateful that you are still here to shine so bright. Your family and peers and support systems growing up must’ve been incredible people, and sound like a wonderful person. Thank you for sharing your story ❤

Whenever I hear stories like this I always notice one common factor, that the medical professionals sound incompetent and like they just want to slap a quick-fix diagnosis on the patient and send them off rather than run comprehensive tests and really dig into the problem. It's disturbing the medical system is like that.

For everyone out there: If you have a gut feeling something is wrong, fight with all you have to advocate for yourself. Yes, you might be annoying to people, but it can save your life! I'm an RN, and I've been in a spinal cord injury spot as well!!!

Unfortunately this medical staff dropped the ball big time. Not running a spine MRI first thing when a 13 year old is in extreme back pain is malpractice. Wishing you a planet-sized hug and strength to keep being the beautiful brilliant girl you are❤

Hi Sydney, I went through what you have been through, but I'm lucky I wasn't paralyzed. But I've lost so much strength in my legs. I had a surgery on my toes and ended up going septic. The staff infection lodged in my spine. I've never experienced pain that bad. I couldn't walk sit up go to the bathroom, turn over in bed, nothing. I could only lay flat on my back and hope nobody touched me. My infection was healed with six weeks of IV antibiotics . I went to a nursing home for four weeks of rehab. I couldn't make it up the three stairs on my front porch. I think you are such a a brave girl, and I will be praying that you regain the use of your legs. You have a wonderful attitude. Thank you for sharing your story with us. 🥰

Don’t give up. I’ve been paralyzed twice and through surgeries and hard work I’ve gotten some function back both times. I proved the doctors wrong. I became paralyzed from a combination of injury and a small spinal canal closing up on me that made 100% nerve block in both my lower back and neck. Try to keep positive. I don’t know if you believe in God but prayer helped me stay positive. It takes a lot of hard work, a good doctor and a good therapist who works with neurological patients. Keep up the fight. You sound like a brave young lady. Life in a wheelchair is not the end of the world. You can still have a great life. I can get around my house on a 4 wheeled walker around our house and my wife uses crutches ( she was born with cerebral palsy) and we both use wheelchairs outside of our house. We enjoy our lives and our children, grandchildren and great grandchild. Try not to be bitter about being disabled, it will be easier to stay positive. I will pray for you. There are no guarantees but keep working and hopefully things will improve. Don’t let anyone put you down for being disabled. If you do believe in God, pray and don’t let anyone tell you that if you don’t have a miracle healing it’s because your faith isn’t strong enough. Good luck and God bless you! Stay strong.

The dismissal, gas lighting, and flagrant malpractice of Emergency Departments when it comes to treating young female patients with complex and occult problems is absolutely appalling. I am so sorry.

As a paediatric neurologist, hearing your story so eloquently told is heartbreaking, fascinating and awe inspiring all at the same time. Getting such a detailed description of what you experienced and how it felt is worth so much, for both patients and doctors dealing with these issues. I am so so sorry for what happened to you. Your spirit is unbelievable, you are amazing and I hope you continue to see progress with the movement in your legs so you can live the life you want and dream of. Thank you for sharing your story so bravely. I hope you are also getting some psychological support, cause this is enormously important, please don’t just brave it out. I see you are a tough cookie, but it is exactly those kind of people who can get hit hard with psychological problems many years after the event. Much love to you ❤

It’s so wild to me that they thought you have a heart infection and sent you home.. that seems like something that they would hospitalize you for. I’m so sorry you went through this and the doctors didn’t do more.

This happened to my sister-in-law. She went to the hospital and the doctors told her she was drug seeking and sent her home. When she got home, she collapsed and had to be med flighted to MCV hospital in Richmond, Va. She was paralyzed, on a breathing and feeding tube and ended up dying. She left behind a 13 year old son.

Who’s here in 2024 also I feel bad for the pain that you experienced

That happened to me when I was 25. I am not paralyzed - but it did get to my blood and began to shut down my organs. It was a long way back and the reason for the extreme sickness was because the medical professionals missed it. Even when they finally admitted me to the hospital when I couldn't walk - they still had no idea what it was. You are a brave young lady. That was the absolute worst pain I have ever had. When I had my baby, that pain to me was not even close to the staph pain. Praying you get full motion in your legs

I work in a hospital. Pain is the most important messenger we have, if it hurts, scream. There is no good from ignoring it, even though we are told to. Being able to put words to things that have never happened to us before is extremely difficult but the most important thing ever. The first thing we are taught to do is to listen, because all the science inn the world doesn’t help if we haven’t heard the whole story and all the descriptions.

I just came upon this by chance. My son, 30 years ago had almost the exact same thing, however he was an infant. He had staph in that area too. The pediatrician kept saying that there was nothing wrong with him - sent us home 3 x's. He never stopped screaming and they kept labeling it as just a crying 4 month old. We had a friend who made a call to an infectious disease dr., as a last ditch effort, who ran the scan, and found the infection immediately. He wouldn't have survived, literally, even one more day. It was a long recovery as he couldn't talk and it was hard to figure out if he was progressing or not. Today, he is a healthy 30 year old and has no after effects of what happened to him. I'll keep you in our prayers, and hopefully even now, a year and a half after this was posted, you are even further along in your recovery. God Bless.

I would have sued for malpractice. They mixed you up with someone with a heart condition, as a very young girl? Sent you home while you were still in extreme pain? What? Our medical system is so awful. I'm sorry ):

Wow! I’m blown away! This young lady is incredibly intelligent, genuine, insightful, empathetic, articulate, brave and beautiful! And her ability to remember and recount her story is impressive. She’s already proven herself to be an outstanding person and the potential for greatness is clearly within her reach. May she know abundant blessings for all the days of her life. ❤