This fitness influencer is learning to walk again after a tick bite left her paralyzed: “Locking my phone became a moment of agony”
The life of Maria Palen, a super-healthy fitness influencer, has been turned upside down by a tick bite.
Despite their tiny size, ticks can be dangerous to humans thanks to the various diseases they can transmit through their bites. As Maria Palen, a super-healthy fitness influencer, discovered at significant cost.
How a tick bite led to paralysis
Via Instagram videos starting in September 2024, the Californian spoke of the nightmare she has been living through after being bitten by one of the parasites. Having been partially paralyzed at one stage, Palen is now learning how to walk again and can see some light at the end of the tunnel, although there is still a long road ahead.
Palen’s seemingly innocuous ordeal “started with small aches, tiny pains that most people might ignore. But she explains that her body “completely gave up” in March 2024, at which point she was bedridden and had lost 20 pounds.
What is Babesiosis?
After ruling out an autoimmune disease, doctors discovered a tick bite had resulted in Palen contracting Babesiosis, a rare condition with similarities to Lyme disease. There are approximately 3,000 cases in the United States per year, according to a study carried out by the National Library of Medicine.
Babesiosis occurs when tiny organisms called Babesia enter a person’s bloodstream and attack their red blood cells. Some people experience mild, flu-like symptoms but for Palen, the result was “unbearable pain” and partial paralysis. Yes, all from a tick bite.
“It became so bad that something as simple as locking my phone or turning my car’s wheel became moments of agony,” Palen explained in a video.
Life-threatening spinal cord incident
Towards the end of 2024, she suffered another serious setback, which began with an aching tailbone, and feeling feverish and weak. Palen was admitted to hospital, where it was discovered her spinal fluid had become filled with white blood cells, and something was attacking her spinal cord, leaving her in a life-threatening condition.
Doctors were unable to pinpoint exactly what had caused Palen’s health to deteriorate further, but were able to clear the infection using antibiotics.
However, “by then, the damage was done,” Palen, paralyzed from the waist down, explained.
Maria Palen’s road to recovery
As stated in a GoFundMe fundraiser set up to help cover her vast medical bills, doctors have given her “33% chance of full recovery, 33% chance of partial recovery, or a 33% chance of no recovery at all”.
Her chances have been hampered by having “no definitive answers” on her diagnosis, although she revealed to People that she has started to see some signs of improvement in recent times.
“The most progress that we’ve seen is within the last month, where my steps are getting better, and I can do side steps,” she says.
Small steps on the long road to recovery.
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