Four years ago, Jody Veilleux fell at work and hit her head. Since that happened, neither she nor her doctors have been able to explain exactly why the now 25-year-old is unable to get back to living the life she was living before the accident.
She experiences stiffness in one hand and one foot that won't completely go away, so much so that she's forced to live on disability.
Veilleux told CJAD 800's Elias Makos the accident happened while she was an active 21-year-old, who ran and played sports frequently. Three days after she hit her head, she noticed she could barely move her toes. A week after that, she could barely move her foot. A month later, she was dragging that foot.
Alarmed, the then-Cowansville resident went to a walk-in clinic, who referred her to an emergency room in Cowansville. She was then referred again, this time to a neurologist at the CHUS in Sherbrooke.
"I started a whole bunch of treatments and a whole bunch of tests. Nothing worked," Veilleux said. "I had an IV bag attached to my arm for six weeks, and every single day I had to go to the CLSC to change the bandages."
Later, they found Veilleux had a spot on her brain which may explain the issues she's been having, but since then, no one has been able to tell her what the spot was.
She's now undergoing Botox treatments every three months to help deal with the ongoing stiffness in her arm and leg, but she's still no closer to finding an answer as to why she's experiencing the stiffness to begin with.
Meanwhile, the experience had led to her taking anti-depressants for a time, as she was forced to make adjustments to her once-active lifestyle.
"I was on anti-depressants for about a year," she said, "because being an active 21-year-old going to work every single day...I was a runner, I was a jogger, I was into sports...but then the sports went away."
She contacted CJAD 800 via Your Story not to seek pity, but in the hopes that someone — a doctor, perhaps — knew what might be troubling her, and give her a better answer than her own doctors have been able to give her.
In the meantime, she says she has a doctor in the U.S., but would need to have her Quebec medical files translated into English.