A teenager spent 15 days in a coma and was paralysed for two months after she was misdiagnosed with an infection abroad.
Dalia Persell, 19, was told she had a urinary tract infection (UTI) when she was on a family holiday in Israel. Her condition worsened, though, and she was dashed to hospital in Tel Aviv, where she became weak through vomiting and fell into a coma.
Medics eventually discovered she had Epstein-Barr virus, known as Mono, which is a common fever infection. It triggered complications and Dalia spent 15 days in the coma, and was paralysed for two months. It was five months before she was allowed to return to the UK, during which time her family, from Hertfordshire, relocated to Israel to support Dalia.
The teenager, of Hertfordshire, started the holiday in great spirits (mediadrumimages / @daliapersell)
Dalia quickly fell unwell, though, and is pictured hugging her brother in hospital (mediadrumimages / @daliapersell)Speaking today, the teenager said: "I don't know what I would've done without my family, they were my biggest support system. I am still affected with short term memory loss, and I had a tracheotomy too which has left me with a scar on my neck, but I've found more people are open when they see you've had an injury, people have come up to me in the supermarket telling me about an operation they've had.
"It has taught me and my family a lot and we appreciate life a lot more, since I had no previous medical history to suggest this would happen. So, small things don't affect me in the same way anymore."
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Dalia, pictured with a friend, was paralysed for two months (mediadrumimages / @daliapersell)Dalia began continuously vomiting and couldn't eat food, drink water or go to the toilet during her family trip in August 2021. When she could barely walk, her family took her to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv. Medics there found the teen was holding two litres of urine in her bladder.
Initially the medics misdiagnosed her with a UTI and put her on a drip in order to hydrate her. Her condition rapidly worsened whilst she was in hospital, and so they transferred her to a ward in order to monitor her. After three days of being in the hospital she fell into a coma. She eventually spent four months in Ichilov hospital from August 5, 2021 until December 6, 2021, and it was five months before she was able to return to the UK.
EBV is commonly known as "Mono" but the way in which it presented itself and the complications it caused in Dalia, such as full body paralysis and swelling in both the brain and the spinal cord had not been something that her doctors had ever seen.
The teenager spent five months in the Israeli hospital, after which she needed to use a wheelchair (mediadrumimages / @daliapersell)
The young woman's holiday turned into living hell (mediadrumimages / @daliapersell)"I contracted EBV while I was in Israel when I was on holiday with my family. It is a common disease, but it got worse for me when I was vomiting for 24 hours and couldn't drink or eat", said Dalia.
"I was so weak from vomiting and I could barely walk, so that's when my family knew I needed to be taken to hospital. When I was vomiting I felt so weak and was upset that my family holiday with both my parents and my grandparents was going to be ruined by me being ill. I couldn't use the toilet either, and when I got to the hospital the doctors found I had two litres of urine in my bladder.
"It was suspected I had a UTI, but then I was taken into hospital and my condition worsened. The doctors had never seen EBV cause full body paralysis and swelling in both the brain and the spinal cord.
"After three days of being in the hospital my condition worsened, I then fell into a coma for 15 days. The EBV triggered encephalitis, transverse myelitis and peripheral neuropathy. It's called encephalomyeloneuropathy."
Encephalitis is a rare condition known as inflammation of the brain caused by an infection, myelitis is a rare neurological condition, which is caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. Peripheral neuropathy happens when the nerves that are located outside of the brain and spinal cord (peripheral nerves) are damaged. These conditions left Dalia paralysed for over two months, and caused her to spend 55 days in an ICU in Israel to regain all her daily functions.
Dalia, pictured with a pal, wants to raise awareness of the infection (mediadrumimages / @daliapersell)"I had to learn to walk again, to do every daily function. It was scary to not be able to move any parts of my body, I believed that I would be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. When my friends came to visit me all I could do was blink at first and then later was able to mouth words but not actually speak because of the ventilator. It was so frustrating trying to communicate because no one understood what I was trying to say," Dalia said.
Dalia had to regularly have rehabilitation during her time in Israel and upon returning to the UK, which she still continues to this day.
"I had intensive rehab for two months since I was paralysed, and had to learn to walk again", Dalia said.
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"I was using a walker at the end of October and then moved onto crutches at the end of November. I had to set goals in recovery too, that were daily, such as doing certain exercises, like 20 repetitions of a certain movement which was important for my recovery." Dalia said she started sharing her story on TikTok to raise awareness and make her recovery more enjoyable.
"I did it to make time go quicker, and liked sharing my dark humour too," Dalia laughed. "I started sharing my story on TikTok to raise awareness of the impact of EBV too, but also to make my time in recovery feel more enjoyable.
"I spent time working out what songs were most popular at the time, which ones could help me go viral and create videos for them."
Doctors are still unaware of how Dalia contracted EBV and why it presented itself in this way. The doctors are still unsure of why I contracted EBV, and why it presented itself in the way it did on me", said Dalia. Dalia shared her advice for people in a similar situation to her, in a place of recovery from a dramatic health problem.
"Set daily goals, and don't try to set goals in months time, I know I did, to try to get back for Christmas, but I think the most important and helpful thing was to set smaller daily goals", Dalia said.
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