Very Sad : Cheerleader Gets A Flu Shot And Now She Can Only Walk Backwards!
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-Now, this is a story of an amazingly beautiful young woman.
She was training to be a pro-football cheerleader and she got a flu shot.
She says that shot has destroyed her chances of happiness.
We told you about her story last time.
Now, Les Trent is with this woman for firsthand look at what her life has become.
-(Les) She's the beautiful cheerleader whose heartbreaking story is shocking the nation.
25-year-old Desiree Jennings showed me how she can't walk without twisting, jerky movements,
but she walks backwards normally.
Doctors say she has a rare one-in-a-million neurological disorder
that was triggered ten days after she got a seasonal flu shot.
-(impaired speech): It started with me not being able to eat without passing out.
-(Les) You couldn't eat without passing out?
I visited Desiree and her husband Brendan at their home in Ashburn, Virginia
to see what their daily life is like.
She has to go up and down stairs backwards
because something as simple as walking forward can be dangerous.
And here's the unusual part about the disorder.
Take a look at this.
Desiree can run just fine. It's only when she stops...
You see, that's when the spasms start.
Now, you can walk backwards though and it'll make it better, right?
-(panting): Yeah.
-(Les) She runs with a normal stride,
and as I ran with her, she even spoke normally.
And now you can talk. -(normal speech): Yeah, it's weird.
It fixes as soon as I start running.
-I mean, you sound... -I know, it's great, isn't it?
-You sound amazing. -Whoa! Whoa!
-And then you stop and that's what happens.
Desiree got a flu shot on August 23rd.
Ten days later, she came down with what doctors have diagnosed as dystonia,
a rare neurological disorder.
Her jerking and twisting are the result of uncontrollable muscle contractions.
There is no known cure.
-(priest) Are you all ready? -(Desiree) Yes.
-(Les) This home video of Desiree as a beautiful bride
when she married Brendan two years ago.
And this is a photo when she was training to be a cheerleader for the Washington Redskins.
Doctors say what happened to Desiree should(n't?) discourage people from getting flu shots.
But here's what the woman who's on the wrong side of being one-in-a-million says.
Running has to be a relief.
-The only thing I have left.
-The only thing you have left. Captioned by SpongeSebastian for CaptVids.com