Mum-of-two develops Parkinson’s Disease at age 25 after becoming pregnant for the first time
It started out in her right arm but after she gave birth to her second child it 'spread' to her right leg
A MUM has told how she developed Parkinson's disease at the age of just 25 - after falling pregnant with her first child.
Hayley Huxley was diagnosed with the illness when she found herself unable to use her right hand two months after having her first baby, Poppy.
And when she had her second child Eli, now two, in 2015 her symptoms got worse and her mobility decreased in her right leg.
The average age for the onset of Parkinson's is 62 but Hayley was told it lay dormant in her body and emerged with the stress on her body of having Poppy.
The 30-year-old has been forced to cut her hours from full-time to part-time as a school office assistant and she now relies on husband Gareth, 34, a plumber, and her own mum to dress her children because of her condition.
It will one day leave her immobile and racked with tremors and Hayley has decided to have no more children to avoid worsening her symptoms.
The Parkinson's Disease Society said that the hormonal changes and physical stress of pregnancy can worsen symptoms of the condition.
Hayley said: "To learn I have a degenerative condition as a mum in my twenties was a shock - I was healthy when I fell pregnant but came away with a life sentence.
"Within months of having my second child my leg became stiff and painful for the first time and I knew that the births had to be linked to my condition.
"I can't play rough and tumble with my children and one day may not be able hold them.
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"So many people assume only old people get this condition but I'm proof that's not the case."
Hayley, from Pontypool, Gwent, said she and Gareth, who have been together 10 years, had a "normal" life until she gave birth to Poppy in 2011 when she was 24.
When she returned to her teaching assistant job two months later, her right arm was "completely stiff" and she lacked control over it, meaning she could not write.
She went to her GP but, because of her age, Hayley was not tested for Parkinson's until a year later when she pushed for a scan by a neurologist at Nevill Hall Hospital, Wales.
Following her diagnosis, Hayley was put on 10 tablets a day to manage the pain and keep tremors at bay, but other than that tried to maintain a normal lifestyle.
She was warned the condition could worsen with other pregnancies and planned to wait a few years before trying for a second child - if she decided to try at all.
But she fell pregnant by accident in 2015 and decided to keep the baby.
The mum was taken off medication for eight months and given monthly scans to moderate the pregnancy.
Following the birth of second child Eli in 2015, Hayley was given a £200-a-month disability allowance to buy customised utensils and furniture to manage the tremors and in September 2016 won a legal battle to increase the payments to £360.
Hayley added: "The children make the pain and stiffness bearable."
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