The victim

"I called a doctor after three days. I gave a stool sample and on Sunday evening he rang to say it was campylobacter. I remember picking up the antibiotics and thinking that things would pick up, but they didn’t for me.

"By the following day, I was walking like a puppet. I had strange sensations and I couldn’t place my right foot properly. I thought I had just been lying on my back for too long and had hurt a nerve. The day after that I couldn’t get out of bed. Within the space of 24 hours the feeling of numbness and tingling had gone from my toes to my knees, and in the next 24 from my knees to my hips.

"I was admitted to hospital and they started treatment, but I was already completely helpless. I had double vision and had lost the ability to use my bladder and my hands. I was on a heart monitor and they were checking my chest muscles every four hours, day and night.

"Before campylobacter, I was perfectly healthy. I’d given birth to two healthy boys, I skied, I walked everywhere and I did Zumba classes. I took it all for granted, like most of us do.

"Campylobacter has left me disabled – that’s how people see me as soon as they see my stick. I can’t walk properly – I can’t stand for very long, wear high heels or run. I don’t feel properly from the hips down and my balance is quite impaired. I still go for a walk in the woods, but I have to look down all the time to keep my balance."