Woman diagnosed with terminal illness after ‘contrite’ her face at teacher

Emily Bridges, 20, was concerned after experiencing a “lack of control” on the bus to college, which developed into involuntary tics and was eventually diagnosed with Tourette syndrome

A woman was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome after she couldn’t help but forgive her teacher.

Emily Bridges was 18 when she felt an “overwhelming lack of control” when her head “suddenly started jerking to one side” on the bus to college.

She initially dismissed the incident, but had to deal with it when she started making an ah-iccup-like noise that developed into involuntary screaming and swearing.

Eventually she was diagnosed by a specialist at the Walton Center in Liverpool with Tourette, a neurological condition that causes involuntary and uncontrollable vocal and motor tics.

Emily, a student from Wigan, says she couldn’t accept at first that she had the disease, although she has now accepted it The Liverpool Echo reported.

She added that she is often mocked by those who don’t understand the seriousness of the condition.

She said: “I knew now what it was, but now I had to live with it.

“I had accepted that Tourette’s diagnosis was the true diagnosis, but I had not yet accepted the dramatic change, the tremendous mental and physical toll it would bring to my life.

“I couldn’t imagine that I could have a neurological problem. My mind would not let me accept that possibility.”

“Too many don’t recognize Tourette’s as a real disability and simply see it as ‘the funny cursing disease.’

“Too often, when Tourette is casually discussed, it is in a joking context.

“So when some people see it in real life, I’m mocked and my tics mimicked by people who don’t take it seriously as a disease.

“You’d think if you suddenly started making noises and movements that were completely out of control, you’d immediately believe something was medically wrong.

The condition led to her once being confronted by a stranger who thought she was swearing at her, not believing she had Tourette.

Emily, now 20, added: “I didn’t know what else to do but hurry up before I had another provocative tic.

“I’m determined to work hard, achieve my goals and prove that Tourette doesn’t have to hold me back.

“I no longer perceive it as an enemy or resent it for the challenges it poses.

“I accept it as that part of me that requires compassion by paying attention to what’s making my condition worse and adjusting my everyday life.”