IT STARTED with a few innocuous pains in her hands, but only a few months later Cheryl Pilling was so ill she had to be put into a coma.

The 26-year-old, from the Harwich area, was left in agony and unable to walk by lupus, an illness which causes your body’s defence system to attack the muscles.

In the space of a year, she went from living a normal life to needing a cocktail of drugs to remain mobile.

Cheryl said: “From December 2009, I had a few pains, mostly in my hands.

“It was minor to start with and I didn’t think much of it. I put up with it until about March the next year, when I went to the doctor, and they referred me to a rheumatologist.

“They then diagnosed me with lupus and they put me on different medications, but they didn’t work. It was up my wrists, and I couldn’t even turn keys in locks.

“It just got worse and spread, mainly to my shoulders and legs. I was in quite a lot of pain.”

In July, the pain was such that Cheryl was forced to stop working as a nurse at a care home for people with mental illnesses.

Lupus affects the immune system, which produces too many antibodies and then attacks the body.

“I love my job and working, but I couldn’t even pick up a pen,” Cheryl said. “Then one Friday night my mum and dad wanted to take me to Colchester A&E because of the pain.

“I stayed in for a week, and they did various tests and my blood came back abnormal.

“I was put on medication and went home, but was back a week later in pain. It was getting worse all the time.” By now, Cheryl was finding it difficult to walk. She said: “One Friday afternoon I didn’t feel right. I went back to hospital and doctors said I had shingles, but it was connected to the lupus.

“They put me on antibiotics and I ended up going on chemotherapy to try to help with the lupus.

“My legs had swollen right up, they found I had an abscess in my hip and one in my shin and had an operation to remove them .

“But I was warned there was only a 50 per cent chance I would make it through the operation because of my blood pressure.”

Afterwards, she was put on a ventilator because her lungs couldn’t cope. She said: “I was in intensive care for ten days in a self-induced coma.

“From there, they transferred me to St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, a specialist centre for treating lupus.”

At the hospital they tried different types of medication and her condition slowly improved.

By October, Cheryl was able to return home, having endured weeks in hospital. But she was still unable to walk because her muscles had wasted away due to lack of use.

Cheryl couldn’t make it up the stairs, so her parents turned their dining room into a bedroom for her. She said: “I had physios and nurses coming in every day.

“I didn’t know if I would get better, or if I would be able to walk again.”

But, thanks to a cocktail of drugs, Cheryl gradually continued to improve and by January this year was able to go back to work.

Today, she is finally pain free and wants to raise awareness of the illness.

October is Lupus awareness month and Cheryl is hoping, when her health permits, to hold fundraising events for Lupus UK.

For more information about the illness, visit lupusuk.org.uk