WHEN Claire Harrison felt a headache coming on she took a couple of painkillers and got on with her day.

Twenty four hours later she was on a life support machine in Basildon Hospital, paralysed, unable to breathe by herself, unable to speak and left only with the ability to blink.

Claire, now 36, had suffered a brain trauma which locked her into her own body and left her teetering on the brink of death.

More than two years on and Claire has fought back, in part due to the help of the charity Headway Essex, which she is now avidly supporting.

For Claire, who moved to her home in Northampton Grove, Langdon Hills, from Hartlepool 12 years ago, her life changed forever in January 2009.

She recalled: “I was booking a holiday on the computer and I suddenly got a bad headache, so I took a couple of tablets.

“When it didn’t get better. I went to the doctor, who put it down to a bad headache.”

But within hours Claire’s condition had deteriorated and her husband, Russell, 38, rushed her to Basildon Hospital A&E.

She said: “I remember going through the door, but have no memory of what happened after that until I woke up several days later and felt the paralysis coming over me.

“I couldn’t speak or move any part of my body. It was terrifying. I had to blink once for yes and twice for no in order to communicate. ”

When Claire failed to respond to drugs, she was transferred to the Royal London Hospital for an MRI scan. It showed she was suffering from acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.

Claire, who has two sons, Joseph, seven and Liam, three, said: “I had lesions on my brain and on spine. The doctors thought I was going to die – so did I. My priest came into the hospital and gave me the last rites.”

“I remember lying there extremely anxious, then all of a sudden this sense of calm came over me. I thought ‘that’s it, I’m going’, but it was so peaceful.

“The nurses wiped my face and I thought they were doing that because I had died and my family would come to see me.

“Then the anxiety came back. I thought ‘I haven’t died and I don’t want to die’.

As well as not being able to see or even talk to her children, one of the worst parts of the ordeal for Claire was being trapped in her own body.

She said: “Because I had tubes down my throat, it felt like I was choking. But I couldn’t tell the nurse or call out! I can’t describe that fear. You think you are going to choke to death and there’s nothing you can do. I was helpless.

“Eventually I was able to slightly move my hand on to a buzzer, but it took every ounce of strength to reach it.”

After several weeks in the Royal London Hospital, Claire was transferred back to intensive care at Basildon. Slowly she began to recover, but then the long process of rehabilitation.

She said: “I had to learn to walk all over again and to carry out everyday movements we take for granted.

“When I spoke for the first time the doctors were shocked at my northern accent. They thought I’d have an Essex one!”

Claire was then transferred to the Mayflower Community Hospital in Billericay, where she stayed for 10 days before being allowed home – more than two months after her initial collapse.

Russell had taken time off from his job in the NHS to care for the boys and Claire’s mum Susan, 57, moved in to look after her so he could get back to work.

Claire said: “It was a long time before I could be normal again. I still have to see a neurologist and I have to take things easy, but I’m getting there. I can drive, but only short distances. I get tired, but it’s nothing compared to how I was.”

Doctors think her condition was caused by a virus.

She said: “Why it caused such devastation in my body I’ll never know.

“I appreciate life more. I don’t worry about little things.

“There were times I thought I’d never recover. I know I couldn’t have done any of this without the help and support of my wonderful family and friends and the nurses and doctors at both hospitals, who never gave up on me.”