A FIREFIGHTER has told how he was left paralysed from the chest down after being struck down by a rare virus while refereeing a football match.
Dad-of-three Chris Wardman was taking part in the five-a-side tournament at Goals in Clough Road, west Hull, when he suffered sudden, crippling chest pain.
Within three hours, paralysis had spread from his legs up to his chest.
Doctors at Hull Royal Infirmary were mystified at first but, after ten days of tests, diagnosed transverse myelitis – a neurological condition that attacks the spinal cord and affects just 300 people a year.
Mr Wardman, 41, a retained firefighter based in Beverley, said: "My nerves are shot to bits.
"Cold feels hot and hot feels cold. Clothes feel as though they are lined with glass.
"One of the best ways to describe the pain is this – if you run a piece of wool over my skin, it feels like a cheese wire."
Experts say there is no known cure.
Mr Wardman says he has been told 70 per cent of sufferers will never recover, although intensive physiotherapy can help reduce symptoms.
But Mr Wardman said the biggest source of pain and frustration is not being able to play with his children, Alanah, 19 months, Sienna, nine, and Macauley, 13.
Mr Wardman is a patient at East Riding Community Hospital in Beverley.
However, he still gets to leave his hospital bed for a few hours each week to visit his family.
Mr Wardman said: "My wife and kids are only half a mile away from where I am now but I can't be with them all the time.
"That's probably the biggest drain. They all come and see me every day, but it's not the same as being at home."
Already, Mr Wardman has spent four months in hospital, first at Hull Royal Infirmary, before being transferred.
Prior to the virus, Mr Wardman – a well-respected firefighter of ten years – had always prided himself on his fitness.
And his fitness may have saved lives.
But on April 13, Mr Wardman's life changed in a flash.
"It felt like I was having a heart attack or a stroke," he said. "It was a really sharp pain in my chest."
Players rang for an ambulance.
However, paramedics examined him thoroughly and found no problem.
Mr Wardman's wife, Hayley, collected him and took him back to their home in Beverley.
"Within an hour, my right leg was paralysed," he said. "It then got worse. Over the next two hours, the numbness went up my body, right up to my chest."
Another ambulance was called.
"I was blue-lighted to Hull Royal Infirmary," said Mr Wardman who is originally from Newcastle.
"The stroke team was on standby – they were convinced I was suffering a stroke."
Blood tests, MRI and CAT scans confirmed he was suffering from transverse myelitis.
Mr Wardman said: "No one knows what brings it on.
"At least if you fall off a ladder, you know why you can't walk, but with this, you just don't know and that's the frustration."
Initially, Mr Wardman was given powerful steroids.
He has now weaned himself off them and relies on pain relief tablets in additional to drugs designed to relax his muscles and prevent blood clots.
Despite the odds, Mr Wardman insists he will walk again.
"I've heard around a third of sufferers will make a full recovery," he said. "When you're told most will end up in a wheelchair for life you think, 'Oh my God.'
"But I am going to be in that third."
