Mother helped back to health by son’s physio clinic after brain damage
Karen Kerr, 58, was diagnosed with haemochromatosis after experiencing stroke-like symptoms, and was later told she would never walk again.
A mother who was told she would never walk again because of a brain injury has described how her son’s physiotherapy clinic restored her independence.
In January 2023, Karen Kerr, 58, phoned her son Iain Legge to say she was struggling to use her hands, could not stand up, and her speech was slow and slurred.
He feared she had had a stroke, but it soon emerged she had suffered brain damage as a result of a genetic condition.
Mr Legge, 30, lives in East Ayrshire and is director of Cortex Physiotherapy, which he founded in 2024 alongside his partner, physiotherapist Dionne Harvey, 33.
When she became unwell, Ms Kerr had been living in Dorset for around 10 years.
Mr Legge recalled: “I immediately thought she’s having a stroke, so we got an ambulance down to her house and she was taken to hospital.
“They investigated what had happened, and it was found pretty early on that there was brain damage, and they later found that my mum had been living with a condition called haemochromatosis.”
Haemochromatosis is a genetic disorder that stops the body from processing iron properly.
When iron levels build up, it can cause stroke-like symptoms as seen in Ms Kerr. It also damages the liver, pancreas, joints and heart.
The condition can be fatal if left untreated, and Ms Kerr deteriorated to the point where she was unable to stand or sit upright.
She lost a considerable amount of weight, weighing just over six stone at her worst, and spent four months in hospital.
She also needed four care visits from at least two carers at a time every day and never left her room. The room she lived in was what medical professionals call a “micro-environment”, where everything she needs is kept, including her bed and toilet.
Ms Harvey said: “She had a lot of built-up iron in her system. Other toxins which were then not getting filtered by the liver were building up in the bloodstream.
“Those toxins in the blood were then reaching the brain, and that is what was causing the damage.”
Mr Legge said: “The hospital was going down the route of trying to get my mum into a 24-hour care facility, because she deteriorated so far that she couldn’t hold a sitting balance.
“Obviously, we didn’t want that.
“We pushed to try and see if there was an alternative to get her back home and after four months, she was discharged and she had barely any sitting balance.
“Everything she had was in one room – the bed, the commode – she couldn’t leave that room.”
The couple had Ms Kerr moved back to Scotland, where they began giving her treatment in May 2024, despite being told by other medical professionals their efforts would be futile.
Her recovery involved a number of different therapies, including neuroplasticity training, where the brain rewires itself through repeating small tasks, eventually leading to accomplishing functions previously lost.
Her iron overload was also treated, and is generally managed by patients through diet and lifestyle factors.
Ms Kerr said: “To begin with, I just wanted to go to Asda or Tesco with somebody and walk, and then I went Christmas shopping last year.
“Once it was explained to me why I was having trouble, I felt that I could recover, instead of being written off.”
She joked: “The hardest bit about recovery was Iain telling me what to do.
“But as a mother, I kept thinking, ‘I can’t let my son down, I’m the mum, I’ve got to do this, so I can look after him’.
“There’s still certain things I can’t do, but I just phone Iain.
“I sometimes feel like a toddler, you know ‘don’t put your finger in the plug, don’t climb that ladder’.”
Asked what she would say to those in a similar situation, she said: “Just keep going, don’t give up. When it initially happens to many other people, they think they’re never going to get better. It’s all self-determination.
“I remember when I was in hospital for four months, I hadn’t had a cigarette, and I just wanted to be able to roll a cigarette again.”
She previously had to use a Zimmer frame when she first got back on her feet, but eventually downgraded to a walking stick, which she now rarely needs.
She now lives fully independently, no longer requiring visits from carers, and can drive again.
Her next goals are to put on her high heels in time for Ladies’ Day at Ayr Racecourse in April and get back into horse riding, having previously competed professionally in showjumping.
She said: “I’ll need to get back in the heels soon, because there’s a dress code and you can’t even get in with plimsolls.”
