Volleyball player, 14, went from walking to paralysis in a few HOURS
A young athlete went from walking to paralysis in just a few hours after contracting a mysterious spinal staph infection.
Sydney Fowler, 14, from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, started complaining of a headache and a backache in December 2018.
Her parents, Jeremy and Christi, drove her to the emergency room, but the doctor sent her home with ibuprofen, convinced that she has merely sprained her back.
The next day, Sydney started having trouble moving and feeling her legs, reported Fox 5 Atlanta.
Her parents rushed her to the hospital, where physicians found a staph infection that was running up and down the length of her spine.
The infection was cleared with surgeries and antibiotics, but Sydney has a long road to recovery with intense physical therapy to regain her mobility.
Sydney Fowler, 14 (pictured), from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, began complaining of a headache and backache in December 2018
The ER doctor sent Sydney home with ibuprofen. The next day, she started having trouble feeling and moving her legs. Pictured, left and right: Sydney playing volleyball
Prior to the staph infection, Sydney was training in karate and CrossFit in addition to playing on one of the nation's most competitive girls' volleyball teams.
'One day we were playing volleyball,' she told Fox 5 Atlanta. 'And, the next day, I couldn't feel my legs.'
Doctors at the Medical University of South Carolina found a staph infection had penetrated her vertebrae and compressed her spinal cord.
Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria, which are commonly found on the skin and in the nose of healthy people.
In most cases, the bacteria causes nothing more than a minor skin infection.
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ShareHowever, if the bacteria penetrate deeper into the body - such as the bloodstream, joints and bones - the infection can be life-threatening.
Doctors aren't sure how Sydney contracted the infection.
But, because her spinal cord had been compressed for 13 hours, she had no mobility from her lower chest down, according to a GoFundMe page.
'In the course of a few hours she went from fuzzy legs to stumbling, to one leg not working to the other leg not working, to being paralyzed, all the way up to her sternum,' her father, Jeremy, told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Two spinal surgeries and antibiotics were needed to clear the infection from Sydney's spine, but she was still unable to move her legs.
Sydney's parents rushed her to the hospital, where doctors found a staph infection in her spine. The infection had penetrated her vertebrae and compressed her spinal cord for 13 hours, leaving her paralyzed from the lower chest down. Pictured, left and right: Sydney in physical therapy
Doctors performed two spinal surgeries and administered antibiotics to clear the infection, and Sydney is now physical therapy to regain mobility (pictured)
She was transferred to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta in January to begin intense physical therapy.
'A lot of people would just give up in her situation because they can't control what happened to them, just like she can't,' her physical therapist, Heather Petersen, told Fox 5 Atlanta.
'But she's not one to do that. She's not going to keep up, she's going to keep pushing.'
Recently, during a visit from her volleyball team, Sydney started wiggling her toes on her own.
'She pulled her shoe off, and they were like: "What are you doing, Sydney?"' her father, Jeremy, told Fox 5 Atlanta.
'And, she said: "Watch!" And, she started wiggling her toes. Everybody started bawling on her team.'
Sydney added: '[The physical therapists] said that was really encouraging, given that it's only been five months.'
Family friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of Sydney's medical bills. So far, nearly $19,000 has been raised out of a $25,000 goal.
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