Fitness Influencer Left Partially Paralyzed After Getting Bit By A Tick
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Fitness Influencer Left Partially Paralyzed After Getting Bit By A Tick

A fitness influencer has a long road of recovery ahead of her after becoming partially paralyzed from a tick bite. For the past year, Maria Palen has been battling a mysterious disease that has affected her motor function.

Back in 2024, the influencer found that she was unable to move her legs after getting bit by a tick. "The most progress that we've seen is within the last month, where my steps are getting better, and I can do side steps," she told People.

At first, the influencer said that she developed small pains and aches that progressed to paralysis.

"Why was my body failing me? I've always lived a healthy lifestyle, this didn't make any sense. It quickly became clear that this wasn't something I could fix with a balanced diet or exercise," Palen said. She had contracted Babesia from a tick bite, which started targeting her blood cells. The disease destroyed her immune system.

"It became so bad that something as simple as locking my phone or turning my car's wheel became moments of agony," Palen explained. The disease eventually progressed to the point where she couldn't move her legs and could barely move.

Fitness Influencer Left Paralyzed From Tick Bite

"Once the pain meds kicked in at the hospital, my legs started going numb. First the left, then the right, until it crept all the way up to my belly button," Palen said in the video. "Turns out my spinal fluid was loaded with white blood cells. Something was definitely attacking my spinal cord and even now, doctors can't pinpoint exactly what it was."

Although doctors cleared up the infection, the damage from the tick bite had been done.

Palen is convinced the issues are related to Lyme Disease. Doctors gave her antibiotics, which she said cleared the infection, "but by then, the damage was done." Palen said in December that she was trying to be "patient" as she waited for her nerves to heal.is.

"I still don't have definitive answers, and I don't think I ever will get answers, to be honest," Palen said. "The most frustrating part is that I did all the right things. I took advantage of my life, I went on hikes, I went running, I ate healthy. I treated my body so well."

However, she's trying to have hope.

"I have to be hopeful. If not, I feel like mentally I would spiral," Palen says. "So I think the main thing that's keeping me going is that I will be able to walk again."