Bride's face left paralyzed on her wedding day after doctors assured symptoms were 'completely fine'

Your wedding is a day where everything should be perfect, but one woman was left unable to even smile in her photos when her face became paralyzed the night before.

Planning a wedding comes with a variety of different stresses - there’s the cake, the decorations, the guestlist, catering, color scheme, plan for the day and so much more.

And the last thing on anyone’s mind would be a sudden health scare ruining the day.

However, one bride was so stressed by her wedding plans that her face was completely frozen on one side, leaving her unable to smile for her wedding photos.

Kelly Stech, from Illinois, Chicago, had spent a year planning the wedding of her dreams to now-husband Benjamin Stech.

Kelly Stech suddenly experienced a health scare on the night before her wedding to her now-husband Benjamin (Kennedy News and Media)

The couple, who got engaged in July 2022, had spent $50,000 on their big day. But just one week before they were to say, ‘I do’, Kelly started feeling unwell and complained of ear pain when she swallowed.

It wasn’t until the next day that she woke up to find painful, swollen blisters across her right ear.

Kelly shared: "Exactly a week before the wedding, I was starting to feel under the weather. The following day, at work I felt like I had an ear infection coming on.

"It hurt to swallow and I felt a popping sensation in my ear. I went to urgent care and they said it looked completely fine and there was no infection brewing.”

She explained that she ‘woke up that Monday and my ear was completely swollen and blistered’, and visiting urgent care, she was put on steroids and antibiotics for cellulitis.

But the 30-year-old’s symptoms got worse and soon, the right side of her face could no longer move the night before her wedding.

Kelly said she woke up on her wedding morning to a blistered ear (Kennedy News and Media)

Of course, she couldn’t cancel her wedding on such short notice, leaving her unable to ‘fully smile’ in her happy wedding pictures on October 6, 2023. But when she awoke on the eve of her wedding, ‘the pain was worse’.

Kelly shared she was ‘vomiting non-stop’ and ‘couldn't keep anything down’ before noticing she couldn’t move one half of her face.

The hairdresser was eventually diagnosed with a shocking condition, one that she claims was brought on by the stress of planning her wedding.

"I went back to urgent care and they transferred me to a hospital. We were supposed to be going to our rehearsal dinner that night,” Kelly said.

She was told she was allergic to the IV drip and developed Bell’s Palsy- a condition that causes temporary facial paralysis- before she eventually found that she was suffering from Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

Ramsay Hunt syndrome happens when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near one of your ears.

Half of Kelly's face ended up being paralyzed due to Ramsay Hunt syndrome (Kennedy News and Media)

According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms include a shingles rash, facial paralysis and hearing loss in the affected ear.

As for how it occurs, the Clinic states it is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Once the chickenpox has gone, the virus still lives in your nerves and can reactivate years later.

If not caught early, it can do permanent damage to facial nerves and hearing.

For the hairdresser, she had to cut down her guest list from 200 to 50 people in light of her struggles, and she made accommodations to hide her paralyzed face, such as moving the bridesmaids to her affected side to it wouldn’t face her guests.

Kelly said: "I felt like it was the happiest day of my life but I didn't want people to think I looked miserable because I couldn't smile on my wedding day. I couldn't drink any alcohol. I was in so much pain and so tired."

She said her wedding day was supposed to be perfect (Kennedy News and Media)

Thankfully, she has since regained movement in her face. But Kelly, who is currently eight months pregnant, said: "It's hard to believe this happened. My wedding stress definitely caused this.

"The financial stress of it definitely takes a toll. We got to experience first-hand early on what 'in sickness and health' actually meant.

"I tell friends stressed about wedding planning, be grateful you're in this position and don't let it stress you out, you don't want to end up paralysed on your wedding day.

"Don't stress about your shoes or the weather."