Charlemont mum Aisling Cotter suddenly paralysed by rare illness

A Charlemont mum of two is battling spontaneous partial paralysis - with a one week old baby. Here’s the rare cause.

Aisling Cotter, pictured with husband Mitch and sons Oscar and Teddy, is struggling with partial, spontaneous paralysis. Picture: Brad Fleet

A Charlemont mum of two is battling a rare illness that leaves her with spontaneous partial paralysis.

Never did 31-year-old Aisling Cotter, healthy and heavily pregnant, imagine she would be paralysed after a bout of gastro.

The young mum was 34 weeks pregnant with her second child and getting ready for a busy Christmas when she started to develop an unexplained weakness in her arms and legs.

Within a week she couldn’t walk.

“It was so scary,” Ms Cotter said.

At the time she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare auto-immune disorder which causes weakness or paralysis.

While GBS often follows a recent infection, like a respiratory or gastrointestinal illness, the exact cause is unknown.

“We did the IV treatment and I was able to start walking with a four-wheel frame,” she said.

However, while the disease is usually treatable, after a few weeks Ms Cotter said her symptoms returned in full force.

“I got better, then worse, then better and then worse again,” she said.

“Between weeks of being unable to walk.”

Now, she said, doctors believe she could be battling either chronic GBS, or a chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP), a rare auto-immune disorder that causes gradual loss of strength and sensation in the arms and legs.

“There are more unknowns, and it’s a lot rarer,” she said.

“I’m managing day to day but I haven’t accepted it or adjusted just yet.”

Aisling Cotter with husband Mitch and sons Oscar and Teddy is struggling with partial, spontaneous paralysis. Picture: Brad Fleet

Ms Cotter said with a two-and-a-half year old and being heavily pregnant at the time, everyday life was difficult.

“I’m super grateful that it hasn’t affected the baby at all,” she said.

“My husband did everything for the toddler basically; I had my mum and she had to help me.

“And childcare took my son for extra days.”

Ms Cotter has now given birth to the couple’s second child, a little boy they have named Oscar, and said she is managing being a mum of two.

“I’m still using a walker but my husband can pass me the baby sitting down. It’s doable, just having someone to help,” she said.

“We had to do a planned C-section,that was definitely not what I would have chosen otherwise.”

Ms Cotter’s sister Olivia Maghill has now launched a GoFundMe to help the family financially during the post-partum period.

Ms Cotter has not been able to work since her diagnosis and is unable to access NDIS support due to the short-term nature of her diagnosis, while her husband Mitch took extra time off to care for her.

“She’s stayed really strong for her son and little baby,” Ms Maghill said.

“We would put the money towards things like cleaning, meals and childcare – anything to make their lives a little bit easier.

“It’s really stressful for her.”

Ms Cotter said she was still undergoing blood transfusions, and was incredibly grateful to those blood donors who were helping her recover.

Originally published as Charlemont mum Aisling Cotter suddenly paralysed by rare illness