A student who was left paralysed by a rare nerve condition has made an incredible recovery and is now able play her favourite sport again.
Nicola Muir, 23, was captain of her university hockey squad when she was struck down with Guillain-Barre syndrome in 2009.
Within days, she was bedridden and totally unable to move her legs.
Doctors told her it was unlikely she would ever recover well enough to be able to play sport again.
Nicola Muir, 23, was captain of her university hockey squad when she was struck down with Guillain-Barre syndrome
However, Ms Muir, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, has not only learned to walk again - she is now running around the hockey pitch again.
She said: ‘Hockey has been my passion since I started secondary school, and I was devastated when I thought I would never be able to play again.
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‘I spent most of my spare time playing, and my social life revolved around nights out and trips away with the team too.
‘When I was discharged from hospital, I was in a wheelchair, and I had to learn to walk all over again.
‘I am a determined person, and I thought if I can learn to walk again, I can run.
She started to feel unwell after returning from a holiday with her hockey team. She is pictured just weeks before she was admitted to hospital
‘It's taken a long time, and it's been a very difficult journey. I was very out of breath and unfit after my first practise, but it's come back to me so naturally.'
Ms Muir was studying photography at Portsmouth University when she was struck down with Guillain-Barre syndrome during the summer holidays.
GUILLAIN-BARRE SYNDROME: A CONDITION THAT ONE IN FIVE NEVER RECOVER FROM
Guillain-Barre syndrome is an autoimmune disease which affects just one in 50,000 people in the UK.
Symptoms, including pain, tingling and numbness, begin in the feet and hands and move into the arms and legs.
It can also cause muscle weakness, co-ordination problems, paralysis and even death.
The exact cause is not known, but most people develop the syndrome after a viral or bacterial infection.
It attacks the peripheral nervous system - the network of nerves outside the central nervous system, including the motor nerves, used by the brain to control muscles.
Around 20 per cent of people never recover fully from the syndrome.
The condition occurs when the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system.
It is not known exactly what causes it but about 60 per cent of cases develop after a viral or bacterial infection.
It is thought that the infection may trigger the immune system to attack nerve roots and peripheral nerves.
About 80 per cent of sufferers make a full recovery but 20 per cent are left with problems such as an inability to walk, loss of co-ordination and loss of balance.
After a week away with her hockey team, Ms Muir began suffering flu-like symptoms, and getting pins and needles in her feet - but put it down to over exerting herself on holiday.
But more than a week on, her symptoms had continued to worsen and doctors thought she had swine flu.
Ms Muir said: ‘I had come back from holiday feeling really rough, and I thought I'd just over-done it.
‘But after a week, my symptoms were getting worse, and I felt terrible.
‘My GP told me he thought I had swine flu, and I was given Tamiflu, but a few days later, I got up in the night and my legs just gave way under me.
‘My mum had to pick me up and carry me to the bathroom, but the doctors refused to come out and see me because they said I was infectious.
‘My symptoms carried on getting worse, and my legs just couldn't support my own weight.
Doctors initially thought that Ms Muir had swine flu and said that she should be put in isolation as she was infectious
She was eventually diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome when she lost the use of her legs and struggled to move her arms
‘Eventually, a doctor did agree to see me. He arrived wearing a face mask and protective clothing - but he soon realised I probably had something more serious than swine flu.’
Ms Muir was taken to hospital by ambulance but was not allowed in for more than an hour as they thought she was infectious and had to prepare an isolation ward.
Within a few days of being in the hospital her breathing had become weak, she was struggling to move her arms and she couldn’t move her legs at all.
When she was discharged from hospital she needed a wheelchair and had to have months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation
At this point she was finally diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome and she spent a month paralysed in hospital.
Ms Muir said: ‘When I tried to lift a glass of water to my lips, I'd just throw it in my face - I had no control over my limbs and it was really frightening.
‘I was told that some people never fully recover, and there was a chance I would never walk again.
‘Fortunately, I began to recover some movement in my legs just a few weeks after my treatment started.
Ms Muir says that her hockey coach (pictured) and all of her team mates were very supportive when she was ill
She has now made a full recovery and is back on the hockey pitch as well as working as a professional photographer
‘I was warned that although I would probably walk again, I may never recover enough strength to be able to play sport.
‘I was absolutely devastated. Playing sport is who I am, and I was determined I wasn't going to be beaten.’
After leaving hospital, Ms Muir was admitted to a rehabilitation unit, where she began daily physiotherapy.
For six months she had to visit the hospital regularly for follow-up treatment.
Just a year after being hospitalised, Ms Muir graduated with first class honours in photography
Lucky: One in five people never fully recover from Guillain-Barre syndrome
She returned to university that autumn using a wheelchair, and slowly relied on it less and less.
However, it was 18 months before she could do away with the chair altogether.
Just a year after being struck down with the illness, she graduated with first class honours - and has since started work as a professional photographer.
She added: ‘I learned to walk slowly within a few months, but it has taken a really long time and a long of physiotherapy to get me back to my old self.