Paralysed teen's back in limelight

Plucky actress wins Winona stage role

- BY BETH KIRKBRIDE

A TEEN left paralysed overnight due to a "one-in-a-million" condition has defied expectations to return to the stage to pursue her acting dreams.

Jessie-Lou Harvie, 14, from Blantyre, Lanarkshire, was diagnosed with transverse myelitis - a rare spinal cord condition - in March 2024 after suddenly realising she "couldn't really move".

Mum Nicola, 46, an education officer, was told by doctors her "healthy" daughter might never walk again.

Having already racked up credits in the 2021/22 UK tour of Les Miserables, A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Scottish Opera and as Charlie Bucket in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Jessie-Lou was keen to return to the stage following her diagnosis.

After being transferred to the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Jessie-Lou learned to walk again, defying expectations.

She rediscovered her voice by singing uplifting songs in the centre's gardens, and returned to the stage in November.