ATION HEADLINE STORY - INSPIR
Emma Dolan-Horlock was trapped in bed for six years and dreaming of a walk in Sefton Park can be
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hen successful local businesswoman Emma Dolan-Horlock was bitten by a ‘Tick’ in America over 10 years ago, little did she realise the devastating impact this would have on her life. The seemingly inconsequential bite left her bed-ridden, suffering with Lyme Disease and a host of associated medical conditions, leaving her bed-bound, unable to sit or stand, or access the rehabilitation she needs to aid recovery and help her live a normal life. She now spends every day lying flat on her back longing to enjoy the simple pleasures most people take for granted. Her only trips out of the house during the past six years have been to hospitals.
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Emma, 46, who lives close to Sefton Park in South Liverpool has since suffered a series of serious, debilitating medical complications, all of which 14
tracked back to the bite. In 2014 she contracted a virus which was intensified by severe immune suppression which devastated her Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and left her with a lifethreatening condition called Addison’s disease. ANS controls a person’s breathing, heartrate, blood pressure and temperature, this complication along with her previous diagnoses had devastating consequences for her already complex medical needs. Emma was eventually diagnosed with Pandysautonomia. It was in 2014 when Emma developed a severe respiratory flu like virus rendering her bed ridden for two weeks unable to sit up or stand up without passing out, due to dangerously low blood pressure and an incredibly high heart rate that the journey for the ANS diagnosis began.
Eventually after a three year wait, following a series of tests and consultations Emma’s medical team determined that the virus could be stemmed back to the development of her Lyme Disease, which has devastating consequences on your immune system. Emma, whose Twitter account @JustMissEmma chronicles the journey so far #DiaryofaHorizontalGirl, said “I was bitten by a Tick at 31 and was bedbound by 40 and at 46 I am desperate to give myself the best chance possible to live a normal, fulfilling life and not spend the rest of my life staring at a ceiling. I am a really positive person and before this illness was the life and soul of the party. I tried to run my business from
