Beating all odds: Can’t keep Dom down with power of positivity

She was told she may never walk, let alone dance again and now one inspiring woman is opening an all-abilities studio.

40 weeks after being paralysed Dom Tulleken is now able to start teaching dance again with her business D Dance Academy. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Nothing can break the spirit of Dom Tulleken, not even being told by her neurologists that she may never walk or talk again.

And she has broken all odds, reaching 40 weeks without her wheelchair.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at her, but she has been battling complex health issues for the past decade.

40 weeks after being paralysed Dom Tulleken is now able to start teaching dance again with her business D Dance Academy. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Becoming unwell at the young age of 20, Ms Tulleken wasn’t diagnosed with neurological disorder Dystonia, until five years later and was treated with botox therapy.

Little did medical experts know Ms Tulleken is one of two people in the world to carry an unfamiliar gene, causing a reaction to the therapy that would eventually cause her to become paralysed.

A further three years later, she was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder.

The following year at age of 28, Ms Tulleken experienced three hemiplegic migraines, causing symptoms similar to a stroke.

Paralysed from the shoulders down, she could no longer speak, walk or continue her passion of dancing and teaching.

40 weeks after being paralysed Dom Tulleken is now able to start teaching dance again with her business D Dance Academy. Wednesday, October 13, 2021. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“I’ve had ADHD and ADD since I was a child so I started dancing when I was six-years-old as an alternative form of therapy,” she said.

With the help of skull acupuncture and electric shock therapy, just two years after she was told she would never walk again, she is on her feet and opening new dance studio D Dance Academy, for people living with disabilities.

“It took away my ability to dance, I had to stop studying and I lost a lot of friends because they said they didn’t know what activities they could do with me,” she said.

“This will be a way for participants to learn something new, express themselves creatively and socialise … this is my calling and something I’ve always wanted to do.”

40 weeks after being paralysed Dom Tulleken is now able to start teaching dance again with her business D Dance Academy. Wednesday, October 13, 2021. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Ms Tulleken has now been walking without a wheelchair for 40 weeks and short distances without crutches for five weeks.

While medical experts have told her she may relapse in the future, it can’t dull her spark.

“If I do end up in a wheelchair again, it’s fine because I’ve taught myself how to dance in one and I know everything will be OK,” she said.

“I don’t want people in my studio to feel like they have to conform and be like everyone else – I just want them to be their beautiful selves and whoever they want to be and after everything I’ve been through, I really want to give back to the community.”

D Dance Academy is set to open in early November and classes start from $10.

Classes vary and can be suited to the type of dance participants would like to learn.

Starting at Drayton Memorial Hall, classes will then be moved to St Luke’s after renovations are completed.

Both spaces are disability and sensory friendly.

For more information, phone [phone].