Botulism

Just a few bites of an underdone steak left actor Matt paralysed - for FIVE months



Matt Milchard had never really worried about his health. For years, the strapping 6ft actor and singer had visited the gym and taken care to eat healthily, and, apart from the usual colds and viruses, had enjoyed good health.

But then, on the last day of a glorious holiday in Marbella before his 30th birthday, the former EastEnders actor ate something that nearly killed him. Spending the evening with a musician friend at a local restaurant, he ordered steak, salad and a glass of wine.

Matt, who played one of Kat Slater's disruptive boyfriends in the soap, left half of the steak, thinking it tasted odd. 'I actually said to my friend: "I'll probably get food poisoning" - but not for a second did I think that anything would really happen to me.'

The next day, he flew back to London and went to meet friends at Ascot, but turned back because he started feeling so ill.

'I had stomach pains, felt heady and was perspiring - I went home thinking I had severe stomach cramp or a tummy bug.'

The pain appeared to subside over the next two days. 'I didn't feel 100 per cent, but thinking I'd taken enough time off, I went on a modelling job in the West End - but during the middle of the shoot I found I couldn't keep my eyes open and my speech began to slur.

'At first I thought it was funny, and everyone around me was laughing, too, because it was almost as if I was drunk. But quickly people started realising this wasn't right.

'I managed to get myself back to my home in Docklands, although the journey seemed the longest it had ever felt. By the time I got there, the side of my face had dropped. Terrified, I rang my father, who immediately drove from Canterbury to get to my place.'

When Matt's father, a scientific consultant, arrived, he thought his son had had a stroke and phoned for an ambulance. 'The casualty department were puzzled. Gradually my face was getting worse. I was having to prop my eyes open and my speech was becoming even more slurred. I could hear this unintelligible drivel coming out. I was extremely frightened.

They gave me a drink of water, but when I tried to swallow it all came out of my nose. They said I needed to stay in intensive care overnight.

'In the night, I woke up unable to swallow. My mouth was building up with saliva and I kept having to spit it out. I could feel myself becoming paralysed from the head down. It was a strange, cold sensation. I called for help.'

The medics were mystified

He was given a tracheotomy - without it, he would have died. Meanwhile, his brain was unaffected and he remained perfectly alert.

Matt then suffered a heart attack. 'All I remember was staff rushing around me in a panic and lots of voices calling out instructions. It was like a scene out of Casualty. And then I was out of it.'

The medics were still mystified as Matt remained paralysed. Over the next six weeks, he underwent a series of painful tests, and specialists were brought from other hospitals to see whether they could throw any light on his condition. As a precaution, his visitors had to wear a gown and gloves.

Matt's parents were warned it would be a miracle if their son survived, and so they moved to London to be by his side.

Then came the breakthrough. The hospital called on Professor Michael Swash, consultant neurologist and professor of neuropathology, who was about to retire, but agreed to take on Matt's case.

The professor diagnosed botulism - an extremely rare form of food poisoning. Indeed, Matt was the first case Professor Swash had seen in 40 years, but he recognised the symptoms and saved Matt's life.

Botulism is caused by the clostridium botulinum bacterium. The toxin attacks the nervous system, causing progressive paralysis of the body - including the heart and respiratory muscles.

Most foods contain the botulism toxin in very small amounts, explains Professor Mike Peck, of the Institute of Food Research. 'If food is heated properly, then the toxin is destroyed,' he says. 'Problems occur only when food isn't stored or prepared correctly.

'Botulism is very rare in the UK. There have been only 60 cases since the first one in the 1920s, but it is more common abroad.'

Matt recalls: 'Once botulism was diagnosed, Environmental Health became involved and they even went to my London flat and cleared out all the food and tested it.

'But, of course, it wasn't anything at my flat that had been the trouble.

'I told them how I had not been happy with a steak I had eaten in Spain. They were convinced this was the source of the illness, explaining that it had probably not been cooked properly and in the warm climate could easily have been full of bacteria.'

As Professor Peck says: 'While meat isn't a common form of transmission, it is possible - certainly, if the steak was served rare.'

Initially, Matt was treated using a special serum flown in from Germany. But he had an allergic reaction to it, turning his body purple. A few days later, the doctors tried dialysis, basically pumping out his blood, filtering it and pumping it back in again.

His body reacted badly

At first his body reacted badly and he developed Guillan-Barre Syndrome, which can occur after an infection and makes the body's immune cells attack the brain.

One effect of this was that his body stopped producing the fluid needed to keep the eyes lubricated.

'My eyes had to be taped shut, and every few hours a nurse would undo them, squirt lotion into them and tape them back up, otherwise I would have gone blind.

'I was also dribbling. I couldn't eat and lost so much weight - dropping from 13 stone to seven-and-a-half.

'I thought I was either going to remain paralysed or I was going to die. The drugs caused me to hallucinate and I did see what they call "the white light". But then I heard my family crying and I started fighting back.'

It wasn't until after Matt had been in hospital for five months that there was a real turning point, when he had a second dialysis treatment. He started to get some feeling back in his limbs - only to catch MRSA because his immune system was so weak. He was put into quarantine for three months.

Fortunately, he started to improve and was given intensive physiotherapy to walk again. 'At first, I couldn't even walk around my bed because I was so weak. I had a neck brace because I couldn't lift my head up. But I have a strong willpower.'

Eight months after falling ill, he was discharged. 'My parents had to move into my apartment as my carers. I used to have to plug myself into a feeding machine every night, and a speech therapist came regularly because my tongue was still slightly paralysed.'

But after a further four months, Matt was able to start getting his life back to normal. He returned to his vigorous daily workouts at the gym and is now back to a fit 13 stone.

Matt adds: 'The illness has left me with no taste or smell, and I'm very cautious about what I eat now.'

And the first proper meal he had after his ordeal? Surprisingly, it was steak - 'but my mum burnt the hell out of it just to make sure it was all right,' recalls Matt with a grin.

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