‘I went from fit and healthy to virtually bedridden and unable to walk – I first felt it while taking a shower’

A father-of-two has told how he went from being fit and healthy to being unable to walk due to a rare disease. Married to Gary Khan, a former musician and athlete, her condition deteriorated after noticing the first symptoms in the shower.

Aged 56, the Alcester dad suffered from the sudden onset of an autoimmune disease after noticing numbness in October 2020. “I was in the shower one morning and my toes and thumbs went numb on both sides at the same time,” the father said. father, now coach and businessman.

Gary was diagnosed in early 2021, but despite treatment including steroids and plasma exchanges, his condition continued to deteriorate until doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital decided to try immunoglobulin.

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He saw immediate improvements in his symptoms and now receives regular infusions to maintain his health. Telling his story as Plasma Donation Week started today, Monday April 22, he said monthly donations had changed his life.

Every four weeks he receives donations for two days at the QE for the treatment of the rare condition chronic inflammatory demyelination. It affects his nervous system, causing progressive weakness and decreased sensory function in the legs and arms.

This week the NHS will urge more people in Birmingham, Twickenham and Reading to come forward and help donate plasma, transform and save lives. Gary’s symptoms are treated with immunoglobulin, a medicine made from plasma. It contains healthy antibodies from plasma donors, which help stabilize his immune system and stop the damaging attacks on his nervous system.

Gary said: “I’m really lucky. We found something that helped me, and I am surrounded by people who supported me. I thought at one point that simply getting up would have been the best outcome.

“It was as if someone had turned a switch and my muscles started working properly again. I had joint problems and muscle wasting due to the condition, but I am in recovery and have very few problems now.