Telford student told she'd never walk again set to tread catwalk as beauty queen
Watch Shropshire student Elspeth explain how she wants to show you can have mobility aids and “look beautiful and succeed and be noticed”.
A law student from Shropshire who was told she would never walk again after being left paralysed for four years has defied the odds to strut the catwalk as a beauty queen finalist.
Elspeth Cadwallader, 19, was in a wheelchair from the age of 10 after a bout of tonsillitis left her with just 5 per cent of her body working.
The childhood common illness triggered a series of complex chronic illnesses, including myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and she became unable to move the lower half of her body.
But the inspirational teenager overcame her extraordinary health challenges, taught herself how to walk again and will now tread the catwalk at the final of the Miss Progress UK beauty pageant this week.
Elspeth, of Telford, said: "I've been pretty unlucky really but it's down to bad genes and I've had to live with that. But I was determined to prove the doctors wrong when my family were told I was unlikely to walk again. When I was in a wheelchair, unable to do the most basic tasks for myself I never dreamed I would be entering beauty pageants or working towards a career in law. Now I'm determined to walk down that catwalk."
Elspeth was paralysed until the age of 14 after she first contracted tonsillitis and sinusitis which doctors thought was glandular fever. Despite being prescribed antibiotics, her condition rapidly deteriorated and following extensive medical tests, including lumbar punctures, she was diagnosed with ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. She also experienced extreme light sensitivity, migraines, muscular spasms and was unable to move the lower half of her body due to inflammation and swelling affecting her brain and spinal cord.
Elspeth was further diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), severe Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and fibromyalgia. However, she refused to let her multiple health complications stand in her way and fought back to beat the odds despite being told she would never walk again.
