Sophie Ward - Brit swimmer had Olympic dream dashed when she contracted Lyme disease 03-07-2018
- 6 years ago
A CHAMPION swimmer had her Olympic dreams dashed when she contracted deadly Lyme disease - after stroking a panda.
Sophie Ward, 24, began suffering from painful symptoms including recurring infections, migraines, food intolerance and sore throats after a visit to China in 2008.
Sophie Ward was on a family trip to Beijing in 2008 when she was bitten by a tick while stroking the animal but had to wait nine years for a diagnosis.
Since then, her health has deteriorated so rapidly she has been forced to give up on her Olympic hopes and has also dropped out of college.
But baffled medics were unable to diagnose Sophie until a consultant traced her symptoms back to the trip to Beijing where she had travelled with her family to watch the Olympic games.
She was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease - a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks, which she believes bit her while petting the panda.
After being given the devastating diagnosis, Sophie also discovered she had contracted Coxsackie virus - a viral infection that causes hand, foot and mouth disease.
Sophie, from Garstang, Lancs, said: "It wasn’t until I was examined and we went through all my illnesses and travel experiences that we pinpointed China.
“I just felt really poorly and was sweating uncontrollably [after touching the panda].
"We went back to the hotel and I saw the doctors. They said it was a fever and gave me two days of antibiotics.
"They made me feel better and I carried on with our holiday and came home and carried on with life and felt absolutely fine for a number of years.”
Sophie had stroked the creature for a "once in a lifetime experience" while her father Michael, 60, brother Alex, 21, and mother Julie, 55.
The then 14-year-old was a national swimming champion and on the London 2012 World Class Programme.
She was previously a national champion and swam for Lancashire, England and Great Britain at the European Youth Olympics when aged just 13 - where she won a gold medal.
But she had to give up swimming in December 2009 as she had constant stabbing and aching pains in her stomach and her coaches didn't want to cause her any further suffering.
She said: “It was getting to the point where the pain was so bad, I was starting to hate and dread the sport I used to love.
"I did not want to hate it as it had been my life and my everything and I loved it.
"But it was taking its toll on my health so I had to give it up."
Sophie said she "burst into tears" when she was finally given the diagnosis a year ago when a consultant told her she could have been bitten by the tick while stroking the panda. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6682918/british-swimmer-sophie-ward-olympic-dream-dashed-lyme-disease-panda/
Read also: The holiday snap that dashed a champion swimmer's Olympic dreams: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5912689/The-picture-dashed-champion-swimmers-Olympic-dreams.html
Sophie Ward, 24, began suffering from painful symptoms including recurring infections, migraines, food intolerance and sore throats after a visit to China in 2008.
Sophie Ward was on a family trip to Beijing in 2008 when she was bitten by a tick while stroking the animal but had to wait nine years for a diagnosis.
Since then, her health has deteriorated so rapidly she has been forced to give up on her Olympic hopes and has also dropped out of college.
But baffled medics were unable to diagnose Sophie until a consultant traced her symptoms back to the trip to Beijing where she had travelled with her family to watch the Olympic games.
She was eventually diagnosed with Lyme disease - a bacterial infection that can be spread to humans by infected ticks, which she believes bit her while petting the panda.
After being given the devastating diagnosis, Sophie also discovered she had contracted Coxsackie virus - a viral infection that causes hand, foot and mouth disease.
Sophie, from Garstang, Lancs, said: "It wasn’t until I was examined and we went through all my illnesses and travel experiences that we pinpointed China.
“I just felt really poorly and was sweating uncontrollably [after touching the panda].
"We went back to the hotel and I saw the doctors. They said it was a fever and gave me two days of antibiotics.
"They made me feel better and I carried on with our holiday and came home and carried on with life and felt absolutely fine for a number of years.”
Sophie had stroked the creature for a "once in a lifetime experience" while her father Michael, 60, brother Alex, 21, and mother Julie, 55.
The then 14-year-old was a national swimming champion and on the London 2012 World Class Programme.
She was previously a national champion and swam for Lancashire, England and Great Britain at the European Youth Olympics when aged just 13 - where she won a gold medal.
But she had to give up swimming in December 2009 as she had constant stabbing and aching pains in her stomach and her coaches didn't want to cause her any further suffering.
She said: “It was getting to the point where the pain was so bad, I was starting to hate and dread the sport I used to love.
"I did not want to hate it as it had been my life and my everything and I loved it.
"But it was taking its toll on my health so I had to give it up."
Sophie said she "burst into tears" when she was finally given the diagnosis a year ago when a consultant told her she could have been bitten by the tick while stroking the panda. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6682918/british-swimmer-sophie-ward-olympic-dream-dashed-lyme-disease-panda/
Read also: The holiday snap that dashed a champion swimmer's Olympic dreams: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5912689/The-picture-dashed-champion-swimmers-Olympic-dreams.html