Bride’s Face Paralyzed on Wedding Day Despite Doctors’ Assurance of Normal Symptoms

The day of your wedding is supposed to be flawless, but for one bride, a sudden health issue left her unable to smile in her wedding photos due to facial paralysis that occurred the night before.

Wedding preparations are filled with numerous pressures, ranging from selecting the cake, decorations, guest list, and catering to choosing a color scheme and organizing the day’s schedule.

A sudden health problem is often the last thing anyone considers as a potential disruptor of the celebration.

Unfortunately, one bride found herself so overwhelmed by wedding planning stress that one side of her face became immobile, preventing her from smiling in her wedding pictures.

Kelly Stech from Chicago, Illinois, devoted a year to arranging her ideal wedding with her fiancé, Benjamin Stech.

Having gotten engaged in July 2022, the couple invested $50,000 in their special day. Yet, just a week before exchanging vows, Kelly began to feel unwell and experienced ear pain when swallowing.

The following day, she awoke to find painful, swollen blisters on her right ear.

Kelly recounted, “Exactly a week before the wedding, I was starting to feel under the weather. The following day, at work I felt like I had an ear infection coming on.”

She continued, “It hurt to swallow and I felt a popping sensation in my ear. I went to urgent care and they said it looked completely fine and there was no infection brewing.”

Upon waking up the next Monday, her ear appeared entirely swollen and blistered. After another visit to urgent care, she was prescribed steroids and antibiotics for cellulitis.

However, her condition worsened, and the right side of her face became immobile the night before her wedding.

Despite these challenges, she couldn’t cancel the wedding at the last minute, leaving her unable to “fully smile” in her joyful wedding photos on October 6, 2023. On the eve of her wedding, the pain intensified.

Kelly revealed she was “vomiting non-stop” and “couldn’t keep anything down,” eventually noticing paralysis on one side of her face.

As a hairdresser, she was diagnosed with a condition that she believes was triggered by the stress of wedding planning.

“I went back to urgent care and they transferred me to a hospital. We were supposed to be going to our rehearsal dinner that night,” Kelly explained.

Initially informed she had an allergic reaction to the IV drip and Bell’s Palsy—which causes temporary facial paralysis—she was ultimately diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome.

Ramsay Hunt syndrome occurs when a shingles outbreak impacts the facial nerve near one ear.

According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms include a shingles rash, facial paralysis, and hearing loss in the affected ear.

The clinic notes that this condition is caused by the same virus responsible for chickenpox. After chickenpox resolves, the virus remains in the nerves and can reactivate later in life.

If not treated promptly, it can lead to permanent facial nerve and hearing damage.

For Kelly, the guest list had to be reduced from 200 to 50 people due to her condition. She also made adjustments to conceal her paralyzed side, such as positioning bridesmaids to cover it from view.

Reflecting on her wedding day, Kelly remarked, “I felt like it was the happiest day of my life but I didn’t want people to think I looked miserable because I couldn’t smile on my wedding day. I couldn’t drink any alcohol. I was in so much pain and so tired.”

Fortunately, she has since regained movement in her face. Kelly, who is currently eight months pregnant, stated, “It’s hard to believe this happened. My wedding stress definitely caused this.”

“The financial stress of it definitely takes a toll. We got to experience first-hand early on what ‘in sickness and health’ actually meant.”

She advises friends who are overwhelmed by wedding planning to appreciate their circumstances and not stress over minor details, like shoes or the weather, to avoid adverse health effects.

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