Stroke Aged 25 I Was Locked In My Own Body

Jasmine Went to Bed and Woke Up Unable to Move... Or Speak!

- Keeley Henderson

When she first came to, everything felt odd and strangely fuzzy for Jasmine West.

The last thing she could remember clearly was fainting at work and then crawling into bed once she got home.

As she drifted in and out of deliriousness, a doctor appeared and revealed the devastating news – the fit and healthy 25-year-old from Victoria had suffered a major stroke.

But the horror didn’t end there. Jasmine realised she couldn’t move. She tried to call for help, but found she couldn’t talk either. The only thing she could do was blink.

‘It was torture. All I could do was cry,’ she tells New Idea in an exclusive interview.

Jasmine – who loved running, playing hockey and pole dancing – had developed locked-in syndrome as a result of the massive stroke.

It meant her body was completely paralysed, while her mind remained functioning perfectly. Doctors were unable to tell her what her future held.

‘I worried my days were over,’ Jasmine recalls.

Despite the bleak outlook, Jasmine’s boyfriend Rhys was unwavering in his support, spending every moment possible by her bedside.

Rhys had realised something was seriously wrong with Jasmine when she woke in the middle of the night vomiting in July 2016. She couldn’t walk, so he carried her to the car and drove her to Warrnambool Base Hospital.

Jasmine underwent 12 hours of testing before she was airlifted to St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne.