Emily Felix

So we were kind of left there.

But we knew still there was something wrong, and I knew myself there was still something wrong.

So eventually, anyway...

We got up to Temple Street to Professor King, who carried out a lot of different neurological tests and numerous blood tests.

And then after a few months, I was diagnosed officially with Friedreich's ataxia then.

Yeah, no, when I first heard of it, I'd never heard of it, so I didn't even know how to react to the news, in fairness to her.

She did give me the news in the nicest way possible, I suppose, and she did tell me that physically, yes,

I will experience lots of physical challenges in the future.

But she reassured me that intellectually, my brain will never be affected, that there was no reason I couldn't achieve what I wanted to achieve and that she expected great things from me in the future.

No, I'm always grateful for that.

And that's the one positive aspect of the diagnosis that will stay with me.

And it really has motivated me all these years.

Yeah, it has progressed hugely and dramatically.

It's an obvious change in the years.

So, like, I skipped into secondary school.

I exited secondary school in a walking frame.

And I started college in a powered wheelchair and now I am fully wheelchair reliant.

And as well as the mobility decline, I've had scoliosis, aggressive scoliosis.

So I had three spinal surgeries, one after another in secondary school.

I also live with cardiomyopathy, which is a common symptom of radix ataxia, as the muscles weaken in your heart.