Abi Burton: rugby star struck by rare disease will make comeback in Hong Kong 10s tournament
- Great Britain Olympian spent 2½ months in hospital, was wrongly sectioned and had to relearn to walk and talk, after her immune system attacked her brain
- But she will return to competitive action in the Tradition HKFC 10s, which makes its own comeback in its old slot before the Hong Kong Sevens
Rugby Olympian Abi Burton doesn’t remember much that happened during the summer of 2022, when a potentially fatal brain disease left her in a coma for 25 days.
Yet remarkably, the English sevens star is on her way to play in next week’s Tradition HKFC 10s less than a year after she was struck down with autoimmune encephalitis. She spent 2½ months in hospital, lost 19kg in weight, and was left having to learn to walk and talk again after suffering seizures and becoming violent.
Initially misdiagnosed as having a mental breakdown, the 22-year-old was also wrongly sectioned for 26 days in a psychiatric hospital when her condition made her increasingly volatile.
The disorder Burton suffered from occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the brain, and can be wrongly confused with mental illness.
Her condition, which began last May and caused her brain to swell, did not improve until a member of staff brought forward the disease as a possible cause, weeks after she was sectioned.
“When I was in the coma, I had pneumonia twice,” said Burton, who has no memory of last May to August. “It was horrible for my family not knowing how I would be when I woke up.”
