A 22-year-old woman from Cumbria has been left unable to walk after waking to find half her face paralysed, a symptom doctors initially put down to Bell's palsy before later diagnosing functional neurological disorder (FND).

Healthcare assistant Lillie Thorne, from Barrow-in-Furness, opened her eyes on 2 October to discover the left side of her face drooping. Within five days she had lost the ability to speak and walk and was experiencing up to 30 seizures a day, her family said.

Lillie had gone to bed 'fit and healthy', according to relatives, after spending the day cleaning her newly renovated first home. Her aunt, Ashleigh Thorne, 35, said the paralysis 'came out of nowhere'.

Doctors' First Focus on Bell's Palsy

Lillie attended the A&E department at Furness General Hospital that day, where she was diagnosed with Bell's palsy, a temporary facial weakness, and sent home with steroids. She was told recovery could take up to six months.

The next morning her speech became slurred and she returned to hospital. A CT scan was carried out to rule out a stroke. According to the family, it showed no signs of one, and doctors instead suspected Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a shingles-related condition, and prescribed antiviral medication.

Ms Thorne said Lillie's 'condition kept getting worse'. Her speech deteriorated until she could no longer talk, and then she lost the use of her legs. By 7 October she could not walk and was suffering seizures, some leaving her unresponsive. Her mother, Helen Lancaster, and stepfather, Antony Thorne, both 45, stayed at her bedside.

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Functional Neurological Disorder Behind Paralysis

After several assessments, doctors concluded that the seizures, loss of speech and inability to walk were caused by FND. The family now regard the facial paralysis as part of the same clinical picture, although clinicians have not definitively explained the link.

The NHS describes FND as a problem with how the brain sends and receives signals, rather than structural damage. FND Action, a UK charity, says it is thought to affect at least 50,000 to 100,000 people in Britain.

Treatment typically involves intensive, multidisciplinary rehabilitation aimed at retraining the brain and nervous system.

Ms Thorne said doctors believe Lillie's FND may have developed as a 'stress side effect' following the facial paralysis. 'Doctors don't know what caused it, making it all a big mystery,' she said.

Family Turns To Crowdfunding for FND Care

Lillie was discharged on 22 October. She has regained the ability to speak, but her family say she still slurs, stutters and has regular seizures. She remains unable to walk and is living in her grandparents' bungalow with her boyfriend, Marc, 28, while she waits for NHS physiotherapy.

Ms Thorne said Lillie does not meet the local threshold for referral to a specialist NHS FND service in Liverpool. The family are instead trying to fund private assessment and rehabilitation in Leeds, and have launched a GoFundMe appeal to cover consultations, intensive therapy and travel.

'Unfortunately, there are no specialist centres that are funded by our ICB [integrated care board], so this is where most of the funds will be going,' she said.

She said watching Lillie go 'from a normal 22-year-old to being unable to walk and suffering from multiple seizures a day' had been devastating for relatives and friends, and called for greater awareness of FND and improved access to specialist treatment.

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