Bell’s Palsy Reporter Back On The Air After Bout With Paralyzing Condition [Video]

Bell’s palsy struck a television news reporter as she waited aboard an airplane, leaving the 25-year-old woman unable to move her face or taste food. Now, after a frightening diagnosis and weeks of therapy, the reporter has been able to return to the air.

Mary King was waiting on a runway in Charlotte, N.C., when she noticed that she could no longer move her lips, ABC News reported. Next King noticed she could no longer move the right side of her face or blink her right eye.

Fearing that she was having a stroke, she called a flight attendant and a doctor aboard the plan recommended she get to the hospital, the report said. When she arrived doctors told her it was not a stroke, but instead she was suffering from Bell’s palsy.

The condition is caused by inflammation of a cranial nerve controlling movement of the face, which can result from some kind of trauma or viruses, ABC News reported. People with Bell’s palsy are not stricken for life, but can have symptoms for weeks or even months, the report said.

King, who was on a plan to visit friend in celebration of her upcoming wedding, said she initially feared how long it will take for her to recover.

“All of a sudden it hits you how different you look,” she told ABC News. “I kept thinking, What if I still look like this on my wedding day?”

King was sidelined from her reporting job for nearly all of June while she underwent a regimen of medicine and therapy, Media Bistro reported. Three weeks after her initial attack of Bell’s palsy, she was able to return to the air.

Mary King reports about her bout with Bell’s palsy: