01/10/2025
Today marks the one-year anniversary of when I was suddenly paralysed.
On the 1st of October 2024, I was rushed to hospital with stroke-like symptoms. After many tests and scans, I was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) — a condition that affects how the brain sends signals to the body.
Over the past year, I’ve experienced symptoms like paralysis, limb weakness, speech disturbances, gait and balance issues, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, migraines, cognitive and memory difficulties, tremors, and digestive issues.
These symptoms come in regular flare-ups or relapses. Some days I function well — and then, out of nowhere, a trigger sends me into a flare. Triggers are often hard to predict and can include things like lights, sound, movement, flickering images, certain foods, anxiety, overstimulation, and fast-paced conversations.
My FND journey has been filled with pain, grief, and isolation. And yet — I can genuinely say it has also been one of the greatest gifts of my life.
God has turned this journey into something beautiful.I’ve learned lessons I never could have gained without walking through this.
Here is what God has taught me:
🌳 My life has been like a tree.
Damaged, with weak branches — representing my old coping mechanisms, false beliefs, and the lies my brain wired into me as a result of multiple complex traumas.
💛 To love myself.
And to love little Kayla — the traumatised child I once was. There is no person or thing on this earth that could ever fill all my needs.
My needs are met by God — and also by me.
I am the best person on earth that could provide the love, care, safety and validation that I need.
🌱 This is my foundation — the roots of my tree. As I grow, I’m no longer building on the broken parts of my old self. I’m growing new, strong branches based on TRUTH.
✨ I am loved.
✨ I am cared for.
✨ I am not abandoned or alone.
✨ I am safe.
✨ I am worthy.
✨ I am healed.
✨ I am restored.
✨ I am FREE.
