A woman from Preston is raising awareness about a disorder she currently is affected by.

Becky Brome is from the city centre and grew up in Fulwood.

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In January last year she started out with symptoms of Functional Neurological Disorder, and was later diagnosed in March after a three-and-a-half week hospital stay.

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Functional Neurological Disorder is when symptoms in the body appear to be caused by problems in the nervous system but which are not caused by a physical neurological disease or disorder.

Becky, 26, described how it affects her. She said: “I have right sided weakness causing paralysis in my right arm and weakness in my right leg, I also get blurred vision and bad shakes.

“I am wheelchair bound and struggle doing daily activities such as bathing, dressing and cooking.

“I sometimes find public transport hard to access as they are not correctly designed for wheelchairs although they have a wheelchair space they are not big enough or have a pole stopping me from getting into the correct position.”

Becky does not know anyone personally with this disorder but she has joined several groups on Facebook with 4,100 members.

She continued: “I am trying to raise awareness as this is a common disorder that not may people know about. I didn’t know about functional neurological disorder (fnd) till I was diagnosed with it.

“I think it is important that awareness is raised as more people should be made aware of what can happen, as one minute I was fine then the next I felt like I was having a stroke and for the doctors to say that nothing was showing up on my scans that nothing was wrong, but I knew that there was something wrong when I lost the use of my right arm in early March this year.”

The groups on Facebook act as support for Becky and many for like her who suffer from the disorder.

There is also a website fndhope.org which is a charitable organisation that offers support for those suffering as well as family and friends.

Have you heard of Functional Neurological Disorder before? Do you suffer with it? Let us know in the comments below