Lucy Slawson noticed a rash on her legs and arms on the third day of her vacation in Antalya, Turkey, after being bitten by what she believes she is a mosquito on her leg.
The 21-year-old had never been abroad before brushing his symptoms, especially with ice cream, before experiencing excessive dulls during mealtimes during a week of travel, including sunburns and other swelling in his body.
An international business management student who claims she has tripled her size overseas, said she returned to the UK without any problems, but while she was back home, she began to lose her eyesight.
However, when she woke up four hours later, her rash was on fire and her legs turned blue, so she went to a nearby pharmacy that urged her to call 999.
Lucy was lit up in blue at the hospital, where her condition deteriorated and she slipped into a cocorose state for a week and a half.
When she woke up, she lost all functioning and spent a month in hospital.
Doctors diagnosed Lucy with chronic fatigue syndrome and functional neurological disorders, and believed this was caused by an immune response to bug bites.
“When I was there in Turkey), the first two or three days were perfectly fine,” said Lucy, a native of Market Lesen, Lincolnshire.
“Then my whole body started to rash everywhere, mainly on my feet, and then it was swollen.
“It was really red so I thought, 'Yeah, I just got a tan.' I was very swollen. I literally tripled that holiday.
“I thought, 'I'm gaining a lot of weight on this holiday.' It's comical. Because looking back now, the swelling was the only thing that was a red flag.
“But it was my first time abroad, so I thought my body wasn't even adjusted either.
“I was eating a little more than usual and treated myself on the holidays. They had these Mars bar ice cream and I was like, 'What do you know? I love these.' ”
When she returned to the UK from vacation in July 2023, Lucy felt sick and advised her to visit a chemist and seek an ambulance.
Lucy was rushed to Northern General Hospital in Sheffield and then transferred to Royal Haramshire Hospital in Sheffield, where she slipped into the state of Semicomatose.
Lucy said:
“It got worse and worse to the point where my legs were actually blue.
“It was basically closed because I didn't know how to fight infections. When I woke up, I lost all my functions.
“I didn't respond, I was breathing myself, but I was unconscious.
“My first reaction to waking up was, “What about my Snapchat stripes?”
“I had a 2,000-day Snapchat winning streak, and that takes commitment.
“I remember feeling very heavy and exhausted. They were frustrated because I couldn't walk or use my arms or anything, so they didn't let me get out of bed.
“Their (doctor) best guess was that it was because of a bug bite.”
A week before going on vacation, Lucy visits her GP with cold symptoms and says she later learns that she is positive for Streptococcus A, which is believed to have weakened her immune system.
Having lost her driver's license and had to stop working, Lucy now experiences non-epileptic attacks and is struggling to walk long distances.
The disease also required an OP to insert a catheter in September 2024, as Lucy's bladder stopped working properly.
Lucy said:
“We could see what appeared to have small bite marks, but they didn't tell us what kind of bugs or types of infection.
“It turned out I had streptococci, which was basically damaging my immune system.
“My life was never the same.
“I'm tired of not being able to go up and down the stairs and do all these simple things that no one else can do.
“I got my own car through driving lessons and was the biggest courage I've ever had.
“I spent the last year walking half and half, so now I can walk around the block.
“I have a full-time care team that works 12 hours a day.
“I've seen small improvements. I used to pole dancing before I got sick, but recently I started again.”
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