Woman trapped inside her body for four years was called 'lost cause' by doctors – then she had a breakthrough
A woman who was diagnosed with 'locked-in' syndrome when she was just 11 years old has opened up about the breakthrough moment that everything changed for her.
Victoria Arlen was just 11 when her life changed dramatically, after she developed two rare neurological conditions: transverse myelitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM).
The conditions caused severe inflammation affecting her spinal cord and brain, and she rapidly lost the ability to speak, eat, walk and move.
Arlen subsequently spent almost four years in what doctors described as a vegetative state, also known as 'locked-in' syndrome, and that doctors had 'written her off' as a result.
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But during part of that time she was actually conscious and able to hear and understand what was happening around her, despite being unable to communicate or move her body.
And it was during these exact years that she truly found her faith - which proved to be a turning point in her recovery.
She began praying because, as she put it, nobody else could hear her - but she believed God could.
"It can only be described as a miracle when I came to four years later," she said, speaking with 100 Huntley Street.
The survivor added: "Even to this day I've doctors and experts who were not believers who came to me and said 'Well, you made us believe in something', because it doesn't make sense why you're here, let alone having a conversation."
She has recalled praying to God during one particularly frightening moment and promising that, if she was given her voice and life back, she would use them to help others.
Two weeks later, she began blinking, giving her family a way to communicate with her for the first time and revealing that she was conscious. She has since described the moment as a major turning point in her extraordinary recovery.
But her recovery didn't stop there.
Despite spending almost a decade using a wheelchair, Arlen eventually learned to walk again in 2016. She went on to compete on Dancing With the Stars in 2017, having previously won one gold and three silver medals for Team USA at the 2012 London Paralympics as a swimmer.
Today, Arlen is best known as an ESPN host and reporter, as well as a former Paralympic swimmer and author.
Speaking about the perspective shift she experienced following the unique ordeal, the star added: "I really shifted my perspective to gratitude of okay, I'm alive.
"I have a family that loves me. I have so much wonderful care. I was enough in a wheelchair, I was enough even in a hospital bed. And we're all enough just as we are in the state that we are today."
Mia Williams