Student defies disability to achieve her dreams and help others

A Coventry University student is showing that a disability won't stop her achieving her dreams as she battles a rare medical condition to retrain and help make a difference.

Karen Bucknall came to Coventry University through clearing last year in hope of waving goodbye to her life as a holiday rep and starting a new life helping others.

Deciding on the police force, the then 47-year-old decided to get a criminology and sociology degree and work her way up the ranks after being told a minor eye abnormality meant she wasn't fit to walk the beat as a constable.

But soon after starting her course her world began to change as the problem was diagnosed as early stages of myasthenia gravis, a condition which now affects her whole body, leaving her with muscle weakness in her face and neck, double vision and breathing difficulties.

Often referred to as the rag doll illness, myasthenia affects thousands of people in the UK. The condition causes muscle weakness, commonly in the eyes and face before spreading to other parts of the body. It can be brought under control with medication although in some circumstances can be fatal.

As well as having a benign brain tumour Karen can now only eat soft foods and takes up to 14 tablets each day to manage the condition.

But far from letting it affect her studies, she has completed her first year, become a course representative, and is even finding time to train teaching English as a foreign language - with fresh plans to work in the charity sector once she graduates.

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