THE MOTHER of a 15-year-old girl from Yate has spoken of her anguish over the mysterious illness that has struck her daughter, which has hospitalised her for 11 weeks.

Vicky Archer, who attends Brimsham Green School, has been in Bristol Children’s Hospital since September, having displayed a range of symptoms which have left medical experts baffled.

What started off as an erratic change in behaviour and paranoia has since left Vicky with severe memory loss, confusion, hallucinations and even a drastic loss of motor and cognitive functions, being left unable to speak and even swallow food or drink.

Vicky had been on holiday with her parents, brother and sister in Mallorca in August, shortly before the symptoms arose, but it wasn’t until she was home and starting back at school that they began to find out their normally quiet daughter was being oddly disruptive in class.

“Vicky is a jokey, happy child with lots of friends,” said mum Alison. “But at the same time she is very quiet and thoughtful, so for her to act like this was very out of character.”

Soon afterwards she was saying she didn’t want to go to school and began to develop a sensitivity to light and sound and severe headaches, at which point she was taken to hospital.

“Seeing her deteriorate like this has been awful and it has had a massive impact on our family.”

Alison explained to the Gazette that the latest diagnosis the consultants were working on is Autoimmune Encephalytis, but that antibody tests were yet to confirm this.

She said: “Vicky is likely to be in hospital for next two to three months, possibly taking up to two years to recover. However, she may not make a full recovery, it’s very much a wait and see situation.”

Images released by Alison show Vicky’s mouth cracked and bleeding with her body covered in a rash that she says has left her daughter itching and in pain.

At one point, Vicky was put into isolation after it was feared her condition was contagious.

“Being kept in isolation was awful for her because she is confused and confined,” said Alison.

“She was trying to escape through the window because she didn’t understand why she was there. We had to restrain her, it was so distressing for us to see.”

Vicky’s worsening condition has also seen blood appear in her spit and urine.

Vicky underwent a long-awaited full body MRI test on Monday, which has highlighted a further symptom of swollen lymph glands.

Alison had criticised the delay in getting the test, with the hospital having cancelled and moved a number of cancelled appointments prior to Monday.

“The nursing staff have been fantastic, as have the doctors and consultants, who have done all they can, but the system itself is broken and not working,” she said.

“I feel really sad that it has gotten to this point, I wanted to get the full body MRI straight away but it would appear we couldn’t.”

A University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologise to Vicky and her family for their experience.

“Despite advances in modern medicine and diagnostic therapies, there are some illnesses which are complex and difficult to diagnose, and can take time and variations of tests and treatments to solve. We are working with Vicky and her family to diagnose her condition as quickly as possible while we continue to care for her.

“We understand how upsetting it is when a diagnostic test is cancelled and we only do this when there is absolutely no alternative.”