American teacher in Thailand woke up paralysed after developing rare autoimmune disease
- Caroline Bradner, a 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Mississippi, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome just before Christmas
A Virginia family is scrambling to get their loved one back to the United States after she developed a rare autoimmune disease that left her paralysed in Thailand, her sister said.
Pierce Bradner said her sister Caroline has been “improving, but is still paralysed” from the neck down and has a long road to recovery ahead.
Most people who develop GBS make a full recovery, although symptoms can last for a few weeks, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported. The rare disorder causes the immune system to attack the nerves. An estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people develop GBS each year, according to the CDC.
Bradner woke up in her flat in Thailand on December 22 and was unable to move. A friend took her to the hospital, where doctors performed blood tests and learned it was GBS.