In the summer of 2017, Missouri teen Jordyn Walker was spending quality time with her family on a cruise. But in the weeks that followed, she developed a mysterious illness which has left her completely blind.
Over two bouts of serious sickness, the now 15-year-old has faced crippling stomach pain and severe swelling. But the exact cause of her life-altering symptoms remains a mystery.
Read more: Three college friends have all developed the same, incredibly rare eye cancer
After her family's cruise, the Smithville teen experienced bloody diarrhea and stomach pains. "It just went haywire from there. Everything started swelling," Walker told local station WDAF.
At first, doctors believed she had a sinus infection. But the teenager's symptoms progressed and she eventually lost her sense of taste and smell. Doctors were unable to figure out what was causing the strange and serious illness.
Eventually Walker's symptoms began to subside. But they re-emerged in December, and she experienced bloody stools, vomiting and serious pain that lasted for days. Extreme swelling to the teenager's face then caused irreparable damage to her optic nerves, her family reported on a GoFundMe page.
"My whole face just turned purple and bruised and giant with blood," Walker told WDAF. Although doctors performed emergency surgeries to try and protect her eyes, they told her family the teenager would be completely blind on the evening of Sunday, December 16.
Despite a wealth of tests, doctors haven't homed in on a cause for Wallker's condition. Before a round of biopsies, her family wrote on their fundraising page Christmas Day: "None of us, including doctors, are optimistic that we will have a solid reason why this has occurred."
Although Walker spent much of the holiday period in hospital, she was able to return home to her family for the new year.
The family hope a visit to specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, will shed more light on Walker's mysterious symptoms, according to the page.
But in spite of her pain and uncertainty, the teenager remains positive about the future. An "avid" reader and writer, photographer and school journalist, her family noted she will face "major lifestyle changes" as she adjusts to life outside the hospital. "[But] I'm not going to let this stop me," she told WDAF.
"Jordyn has a great attitude and outlook on her future. She is an inspiration to all of us how she has handled this news of permanent blindness," her family wrote on their fundraising page.
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About the writer
Katherine Hignett is a reporter based in London. She currently covers current affairs, health and science. Prior to joining Newsweek ... Read more
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