DETERMINED 21-year-old Bella is paralyzed from the waist down - but she is on a mission to walk again. Six years ago, Bella was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome - a rare heart condition that caused her heart rate to skyrocket to "225 [bpm] laying down". An episode on board an airplane when she was 18 saw Bella lose consciousness and when she woke up she was receiving CPR from the cabin crew at the back of the plane. After being rushed to hospital, Bella learned she needed urgent heart surgery and was taken straight to theater. As she came around after surgery, she was told that she had been cured - Bella no longer had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. However, her "legs were in excruciating pain" and she knew something was wrong. Three days later, she was paralyzed from the waist down, having suffered an unforeseen allergic reaction to the anaesthesia during surgery, which caused her "brain to disconnect with the pathways" in her legs. When doctors told her the news, Bella remembers how she "didn't want to believe it" - she told Truly: "I was going in to get something fixed and I come out and I've lost so much". Bella left hospital with doctors' expectations that she would "never walk again" ringing in her ears - but disbelief soon turned to defiance, lighting a fire within her that still burns strong years later: "I'm going to prove them wrong. I know I will walk again". Months of rehabilitation at a specialist "paralysis gym" saw Bella make progress with the help of an exoskeleton that allowed her to take steps again for the first time - something she describes as the "best feeling in the world". But now having moved away from the gym, Bella no longer has access to such cutting-edge equipment, so she has installed her own DIY rehabilitation gym in the corner of her living room, consisting of a walker with a crossbar to hold her legs straight as she hauls herself into a standing position. Pushing herself one step further each day has now become Bella's routine, aiming to stand for longer each time - with her current record set at four minutes. So with her friend Enrique coming over to hold the stopwatch and support Bella from the sidelines, will she be able to smash her own record and hit a new personal best time of 5 minutes? And will anything stop her defying all the odds and walking again in the future?<br /><br />Follow Bella:<br />https://www.instagram.com/bellawillwalkagain<br />https://www.tiktok.com/@bellawillwalkagain<br />https://www.youtube.com/@bellawillwalkagain<br /><br />Credits:<br />Videographer: Howard Shack<br />Series Producer: Kim Nguyen<br />Video Producer: Tom Buckman<br />Casting Producer: Perrin Cimener<br />Editor: Helen McKee
