Girl left unable to walk after doctors dismissed seizures as anxiety
A teenage girl who suffered two seizures but was dismissed by her doctors as suffering from anxiety, was left mute after a third unexpected attack left her lying in a park for half an hour while her brain was starved of oxygen.
Rubie Boynton went through this traumatic episode shortly after turning 16, with the cardiac arrest she had suffered depriving her brain of oxygen for 31 minutes. Two years later, the 18-year-old is still unable to talk.
Her mom Kim Tucker, 42, has blamed the doctors who dismissed her health issues as anxiety for what happened to her daughter, with tests later revealing that Rubie was living with a rare medical problem called catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT).
Mom-of-three Kim has shared how difficult it was to see her daughter left unable to talk and only able to able to eat blended food due to her missed diagnosis. "I feel sadness because Rubie didn't deserve this," she said.
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This heart rhythm disorder affects one in 10,000 people and is inherited from a parent through a faulty gene that can trigger an abnormally fast heartbeat when undergoing physical or emotional stress.
But even though it is a rare health issue, Kim believes Rubie was failed by physicians who didn't take their concerns seriously.
The mom from Kent, England, said: “The NHS therapy side of things has been pretty much non-existent which has been really difficult to handle because I just thought 'why is everyone giving up on her?'.
“I am so angry. 111 said she should take some paracetamol and she would be fine. I am really annoyed that they didn’t tell her to get looked at.
“I don’t know why I didn’t push for more tests. I thought that if that’s what the GP was telling me then they must know. I am angry at myself as well that I didn’t ask for more.”
And what triggered Rubie's CPVT was not some terrifying incident or great emotion outburst, in May 2024, she had just been walking with her friends through a park near her home when another group of girls approached them.
This was enough to trigger Rubie's undiagnosed disorder, which could have left her dead if one of her friends had not performed CPR until an air ambulance was able to rush her to London's King's College Hospital, where she was placed into an medically-induced coma.
But those 31 minutes where her brain did not have enough oxygen has left Rubie disabled, struggling with her movement in addition to her speech and ability to eat solid foods.
Kim says that her daughter has come along in leaps and bounds since she awoke from her coma, with some of her fine motor function restored in her hand. Yet, when she tries to speak, no sound comes out.
This means that Rubie has to communicate by blinking. Kim said: “Rubie has made massive improvements. I think because I see her every day I sometimes don’t see the improvements, but I look back on videos from hospital and it is a massive change.
“She is so much more aware. She is moving more purposefully than she was before."
However, with their daughter needing so much support during her rehabilitative journey of high-dose oxygen theraph and physio, both Kim and stepdad Simon have been forced to leave their jobs, even though she already has carers to help four times a week.
Kim added: “We are just trying anything really, we want to give it all a go and see if it makes a difference. I don’t think she will get back to where she was before or even close.
“It has been such a hard journey for me. We just cope the best that we can. I am grateful for the carers that do come in and give us a hand.”
A fundraising page has been setup by Rubie's aunt to support her family with bills and additional healthcare costs as she works to regain her speech and mobility. You can donate here.
William Morgan