Local Organizations Help Lithonia Teenager Battle Rare Nerve Disorder
13-year-old girl, paralyzed by Guillain Barre Syndrome, fights to regain her life before the illness
One day in early May of this year, 13-year-old Allisa Taylor woke up in her Lithonia home with a slight numbness in her hands and feet. Less than a week later, Allisa was lying in a hospital bed almost totally paralyzed, while doctors sought to diagnose the cause of her sudden onset illness. Her illness turned out to be Guillain Barre Syndrome, an extremely rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves. As with Allisa, weakness and tingling in the extremities are usually the first symptoms, and the symptoms can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing the whole body. There is little understanding of what causes the disease; it strikes with little warning, although it often is preceded by an infectious illness such as the …
