A woman was left unable to close her eye or feed her newborn after she was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy while pregnant. Gemma MacKinnon, 33, started getting a pain in her ear a few days before her daughter, Mary, now three, was due.
Gemma presumed she was coming down with a cold but when she woke up the next day she spilled a glass of water all down her after taking a sip. Her husband, Shaun, 37, noticed the left side of her face had dropped and they both thought she might be having a stroke.
But doctors diagnosed Gemma with Bell’s palsy – the same condition I’m A Celeb’s Tulisa Contostavlos has struggled with – but couldn’t treat her until she gave birth. The condition causes a temporary weakness or lack of movement in one side of the face.
Gemma went in for a scheduled c-section the following day and Mary was born safely – but she struggled to see to feed her. The new mum was given a round of steroids and was able to make a full recovery in three months.
She still notices the slight physical difference herself but feels “grateful” she is able to talk and smile again. Gemma, who runs a children’s home in Kenya, from South Uist, said: “My left eye wouldn’t close. It was open and getting dry.
“I was left with a newborn and half a working face. I couldn’t see her properly. The biggest challenge was feeding. I couldn’t see properly to feed. It stole a lot from me at the time.”
Gemma was delighted when she fell pregnant but struggled with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) – excessive nausea and vomiting – for four months. The mum was booked in for a c-section as Mary was breech and started noticing cold-like symptoms a few days before.
She said: “It started as a pain in my ear. I had a pain on my left side of my mouth – it was like I was getting a cold sore. It was December so I wasn’t concerned.” But the day before Mary was born Gemma was unable to drink a glass of water.
She said: “I went to get a drink of water and it all spilled down me. I turned to my husband and he looked at me. I saw myself in the mirror. The whole left side of my stroke had fallen. It was paralysed. Initially, I thought it was a stroke.”
Gemma went to hospital to check if it meant she needed to get her baby out but doctors diagnosed her with Bell’s palsy instead on December 29, 2020. Gemma said: “I didn’t know what Bell’s palsy was.”
The mum was sent home and struggled to eat, drink and talk. She came in the next day and welcomed Mary on December 30, 2020. But due to Covid restrictions, Shaun, who works in salmon farming, had to leave Gemma to cope alone.
Gemma didn’t know how long she would be left with the symptoms of Bell’s palsy – some people can recover in months, some in years and some never make a full recovery. She said: “You couldn’t make out much of what I was saying. All my photos I had with my newborn I looked completely different.”
Gemma was put on a course of steroids and gradually started to see results after a few weeks. It took around three months to be able to speak normally and to be able to close her eye.
Gemma still notices the slight droop in the left side of her face and sometimes gets pain on that side when it is cold but feels “grateful” to have recovered otherwise. She was fearful it would happen again when she gave birth to her son, Magnus, one – but it didn’t impact her.
Gemma said: “I’m very grateful to have made a pretty full recovery. I had come to terms with it – looking like that forever.
“I was OK with that because I had a healthy baby.”
Gemma said she has had people reach out to her since Tulisa has been opening up about her own journey – which saw her get diagnosed in 2020. She was recently slammed for her changing face – but has since revealed she underwent cosmetic treatment due to the changes Bell’s palsy made to her face.
Gemma said: “She has chosen to deal with it differently to me. She wants to look a certain way. It affects everybody differently. Everyone’s recovery journey is a bit different.”
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