Kadeena Cox is a Great British athlete, a reality TV star, and a television presenter who was just 23 when she was diagnosed with an ‘invisible’ disability.
Cox, a Paralympian who has competed in both athletics and cycling, was working towards a spot on the UK skeleton team when her health suddenly took a dramatic turn. Just two days after competing at the Loughborough International in May 2014, she was rushed to hospital.
Before the emergency admission, she noticed what she described as ‘a little tiny spot of like tingling’ on her arm, but initially brushed it off.
As the sensation intensified and she began losing feeling in her arm, friends around her warned that what was happening was ‘not normal’.
The symptoms continued to spread, and soon she found her legs were no longer functioning properly.
“It basically went from my neck downwards and then I was unable to walk, my speech was bad, there was a lot going on,” she said on an episode of BBC Morning Live.
“I literally went from being an able-bodied athlete to someone who had a stroke.”
Four months after the stroke, Cox was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a long-term condition that affects the brain and spinal cord.
According to the Mayo Clinic, MS is an autoimmune disease marked by inflammation, demyelination, and gliosis.
The condition can cause a broad spectrum of neurological issues, including problems with vision, numbness and tingling, weakness in specific areas, bladder and bowel difficulties, and cognitive changes.
Now 35, Cox has said she understands that the tingling she felt years earlier was likely an MS flare-up.
She has also spoken about how her mindset as a professional athlete helped her cope through the hardest stages of coming to terms with the diagnosis.
“That’s probably what saved me when I was diagnosed with MS because there were times when I was in a really dark place, there’s times where I’d black out from the pain… but as an athlete, having those little mini goals, I remember one day being like: I’m just gonna get down the stairs like and not have to stop.”
In 2016, the former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant represented Team GB at the Summer Paralympics, taking bronze in the 100 metres T38 sprint.
She went on to secure two gold medals at the same Games—one in the time trial C4-5 cycling event and another in the 400 metres T38 sprint.
That medal tally also placed Cox in the record books, making her the first British Paralympian since Isabel Barr in 1984 to win gold medals in more than one sport at the same Paralympic Games.
“It was all these little goals that eventually kind of got me onto the podium,” she said.
Beyond elite sport, Cox has explained that MS affects her in ways that aren’t always obvious to others. One of her ongoing issues is bladder trouble—and because her disability isn’t immediately visible, she says she’s frequently challenged when using facilities reserved for disabled people.
“I have things like problems with my bladder, which you can’t see. And you look at a young person, you think, oh, they’re not going to have issues with their bladder but I’m running into a disabled toilet and people are like; ‘You can’t use that it’s for disabled people.
“Not all disabilities look the same. Or I’m pulling up to a disabled spot and someone says; ‘You can’t park there’. I’ve got a blue badge, and they’re like ‘but you’re not disabled’.”
For more information on MS, see the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America’s website.