Mysterious, flu-like illness leaves Canterbury teen temporarily paralysed

Three months after fainting and waking up paralysed, a Canterbury teenager is still searching for answers as to what caused the episode.

Angel Dagcutan has now regained mobility, but the episode has her concerned it may repeat in future.

Angel was only days away from her 18th birthday when she was struck by a flu-like illness in August.

She felt lethargic - even just moving felt draining, she said.

The illness also caused physical pain, especially in her head.

Then she started hallucinating.

"My head started spinning, like it was going round and round," Angel said.

"Then the mail van came to drop off some things. I saw the mail van but then I started seeing it turn into different things. I saw it as a white van, then into an ambulance."

Then she fainted.

"I just remember black and hearing noises, and feeling pain on my head. But I wasn't sure if it was my headache at the time or because I fell."

Her older brother David Dagcutan said he heard the noise as Angel collapsed and rushed into the room.

"She was on the ground and my mum was assessing her and calling her name, which was quite a terrifying experience," he said.

"I didn't know what was happening and I thought it might be serious condition because it's never happened before."

David said his sister was unconscious for several minutes and he was worried she might die.

When she regained consciousness, she was unable to speak or move.

"She tried to speak but it was gurgled and all like jumbled," David said.

Angel said she awoke to her brother performing CPR and she tried to tell him to stop as the pressure was painful, but the words would not come out.

"I wasn't scared, I was just mainly confused as to why this was happening and what they were doing," she said.

"Nothing made sense to me at the time."

Her family called emergency services and an ambulance arrived, but that was not the end of the teenager's troubles.

"When we were about to leave, the ambulance had a flat tyre so they said we have to get the helicopter in," she said.

On board was Canterbury Westpac Rescue Helicopter paramedic Libbie Faith.

"This patient was a bit of a puzzle about what was going on," Faith said.

"We kept reassuring her, we kept monitoring her, testing her, seeing what was happening, and we knew she had to get to hospital pretty quickly."

As the hours rolled on in hospital, Angel said she started to worry that she would never walk or talk again.

"I couldn't feel anything," she said.

"Any needle they would take for tests, I couldn't feel. I couldn't move. I just couldn't feel anything so I wasn't really in pain. I was just confused."

Another round of tests were carried out early the following morning and Angel was finally able to push her hands and feet back against the resistance of the doctor.

It was only slight at first but she said she had since fully recovered her strength and her ability to speak.

A battery of tests was carried out, including an ECG.

However, Angel said the doctors were stumped as to what caused the episode.

"Physically it's behind me but psychologically it's always going to be a little thing that lives in the corner of my mind because I do think about it every now and then - how they never figured out what was wrong and how my heart suddenly stopped and why I got paralysed and why I fainted," she said.

"There's just these questions that keep coming back."

However, the episode had highlighted to her and her family - who lived in rural North Canterbury - the importance of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.

"Living this far out, it's so important to have the helicopter service available," Angel said.

"The helicopter got to me so much faster than anything else could have. I really appreciate the paramedics involved who helped me. They were amazing and made a terrifying experience seem not so daunting."

Faith said situations like Angel's were why the rescue helicopter was so important.

"The helicopter is there to provide care for patients in rural, remote communities," Faith said.

"That's their lifeline and where we are best utilised as well - a time-critical patient that needs to get to hospital from a rural, remote community."

Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa would be raising money for the Canterbury Westpac Rescue Helicopter and a new helipad in Hanmer Springs at the Night for Flight on 28 November.

Entry to the pool would be $10 with live music, food and raffles on offer and all proceeds going to the rescue helicopter.

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