What disability does Kadeena Cox have?
FOUR-TIME Paralympic gold medalist Kadeena Cox is an inspiration for countless young athletes.
But what exactly is the I’m A Celebrity 2021 star’s disability, and how does it affect her? Here’s what we know…
What disability does Kadeena Cox have?
Kadeena Cox began sprinting professionally at the age of just 15 as an able bodied athlete.
However, in 2014 Cox was rushed to hospital not long after a meet.
Doctors eventually realised that Kadeena had suffered a stroke and would need to go through several months of physiotherapy to recover.
However, this wasn’t the end of her health woes – some months later, after believing that she had fully recovered, Kadeena found herself suffering similar symptoms.
Despite fears that she was having another stroke, Kadeena was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Kadeena has also been open about the fact that that she suffers from an eating disorder.
What is multiple sclerosis?
Although there is no cure, there are therapies and medicines available to help people manage and ease their symptoms.
The condition is caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking the patient’s brain and nerves, but it’s still not totally clear why this misdirect happens.
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What MS symptoms does Kadeena Cox have?
Kadeena told the MS Trust that she suffers from “a lot of muscle spasms” in her legs and arms.
She also added that she has “altered sensations and a lot of pins and needles and burning. And then I also have problems in terms of memory and thinking, and just fatigue in general. A lot of my symptoms come when I’m fatigued.”
Kadeena revealed that her ability to manage the condition and her levels of pain vary over time, and said after Tokyo 2020 that she was “affected a lot worse post-race than in Rio.”
She added that she often struggled with “back-to-back days and back-to-back races” but that she was “stable” and had started “a new medication, maybe two years ago, which seems to be doing its’ job.”