Lucy Dawson

About Lucy Dawson

Misdiagnosed with a mental illness until in 2016 she was diagnosed with a rare brain disease (Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis) that quietly destroyed everything about her: her speech, her memory, her ability to walk. Autoimmune Encephalitis, the type which she had occurs when the immune system mistakes healthy cells in the brain for bad cells and thus begins to attack them. The body thinks it is fixing itself when its actuality it is destroying itself. As the brain becomes inflamed, NDMA receptors become under attack, these NDMA receptors are critical for judgement, perception of reality, human interaction, retrieval and formation of memory and all unconscious activities or autonomic functions such as swallowing and breathing which means that all these things are affected.

While in a mental ward, she was left unattended and went into a seizure. The convulsions caused her to fall out of her bed and onto a heating pipe unable to move. By the time she was found, she had received 3 degree burns on her buttocks and leg. It was later discovered this burn had destroyed her sciatic nerve on that side leaving her leg paralyzed from the knee down.

Since her recovery, she has become an activist for both Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis and models with disabilities. She has featured in campaigns with brands including Ann Summers, George at Asda, Spotify, Amazon, Simply Be, Playful Promises, Love Honey, PrettyLittleThing, Feel Unique, Curvy Kate, Dear Scantilly, Bravissimo, Bondara, Fabletics and Hunkemoller.