{"id":360285,"date":"2026-01-09T05:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360285\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T05:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T05:09:17","slug":"mum-who-felt-tired-on-walk-with-family-turned-to-stone-on-christmas-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360285\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum who felt tired on walk with family ‘turned to stone’ on Christmas day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zoe thought it was just festive fatigue, but then started to swell and was unable to move<\/p>\n

08:03, 08 Jan 2026Updated 08:04, 08 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"ZoeZoe and Larna on Christmas Eve 2020 – the morning before she turned to stone (Cover Images)<\/p>\n

A mum who found herself feeling weak and tired while following a Christmas<\/a> lights trail thought it was just festive fatigue – until she ‘turned to stone’ on Christmas Day. Zoe Plumley thought she was just tired after feeling ill when she was out with her family in Bridgend<\/a>, South Wales, trying to enjoy the festive atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Her newborn daughter Larna was in her pram, and Zoe was trying to push on through the tiredness. \u201cWe were looking at the Christmas light trail, and I said to my partner George that the cold\u2019s getting into my bones and I felt really sore,\u201d she said. \u201cBy the end of the walk, I physically couldn\u2019t push the buggy up the kerb. I just couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoe and her family abandoned the trail and headed home. \u201cI woke up on Christmas Day to excruciating pain. I couldn\u2019t even pop a paracetamol out of the packet. I couldn\u2019t move. I couldn\u2019t open any presents. My body just wasn\u2019t bending the way it should. It felt like I\u2019d turned to stone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ZoeZoe in A&E on Christmas Eve 2020 – the start of many hospital trips and tests (Cover Images)<\/p>\n

Zoe, 32 when she started to fall ill in 2020, tried to carry on. They travelled to her parents\u2019 house in Somerset for a family Christmas, but Zoe was seriously ill. \u201cI didn\u2019t get to open presents. I couldn\u2019t cuddle my baby properly. I couldn\u2019t dress myself. My shoes didn\u2019t fit because of the swelling. It was terrifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy dinnertime, my parents were watching me literally balloon in front of them,\u201d she says. \u201cThe swelling was incredible. And I couldn\u2019t breathe properly. I told them, I have to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Bridgend, Zoe\u2019s condition worsened with all her joints screaming in pain. \u201cI couldn\u2019t go to the toilet without help. My partner had to pull me off the toilet. It was horrendous. It wasn\u2019t just my hands or knees. Every joint in my body was affected. It was like my whole body was on fire. Not a burning pain, but just this intense, full-body pain that didn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ZoeZoe out with Larna in Easter 2022 (Cover Images)<\/p>\n

George called the out-of-hours GP who called an ambulance to take Zoe to A&E where she was told she had pneumonia. \u201cThey gave me morphine and sent me home. It was two in the morning, and I was dragging my coat behind me because I couldn\u2019t put it on.\u201dAt home she writhed in pain, at one point wetting herself on the floor because she had collapsed and couldn\u2019t physically get herself up. Over the next few weeks, she phoned the GP every day, struggling at home, relying on Logan, then 10, to put her shoes on if George was away.\u201cMy GP was amazing – they pushed for urgent rheumatology referral because my bloods were through the roof,\u201d she said. In January, she saw a specialist who confirmed what Zoe had feared. \u201cHe told me I had rheumatoid arthritis. I remember him asking me how it had affected me, and I said: \u2018Have you ever tried to change a newborn baby\u2019s nappy with no thumbs?\u2019 Because I couldn\u2019t. My thumbs didn\u2019t work.\u201dBy February, Zoe was on methotrexate, a low-dose chemotherapy drug used to treat autoimmune conditions and had started biologic therapies. \u201cThe disease was so aggressive. I\u2019ve now lost the joint in my thumb. The tissue\u2019s just been eaten away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ZoeZoe with George, Logan and Larna – Mothers Day 2025 (Cover Images)<\/p>\n

Zoe\u2019s life changed overnight and she now uses two crutches, wears wrist splints, and has adaptations around the house, including a fall alarm. And she lives in fear of winter bugs. \u201cEven a cold can knock me out, because I\u2019m on immunosuppressants,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen I go into a flare it can take weeks to recover from.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had to give up her work running a printing business and her partner George became her carer, just months before developing long Covid himself. \u201cHe caught it in January 2021 and it was bad. He\u2019s been disabled by it ever since. So now we care for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living with rheumatoid arthritis has been mentally as well as physically devastating. \u201cIt took a while for it to sink in. At first, I thought it was just another diagnosis, as I had already struggled with an autoimmune condition and diabetes.<\/p>\n

\"ZoeZoe Plumley (Cover Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThen came the grief – realising my old self was gone. When the diabetes team recently reminded me that autoimmune diseases shorten your life expectancy, it really hit. I might not live to 80. I\u2019ll be lucky to see 70.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoe\u2019s children, Logan, 15, and Larna, now 5, have had to adapt too. Logan is a registered young carer and has learned how to help when his mum can\u2019t move. \u201cSome mornings I physically can\u2019t sit up without him or George. It feels like my bones are breaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a disability consultant, Zoe runs her own company, L&L Specialist Services, supporting others with health conditions and invisible disabilities. \u201cPeople still assume disability means a wheelchair. I\u2019ve had strangers try to take my blue badge off me because I look \u2018fine\u2019. I\u2019ve even pretended to limp just to avoid confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite it all, Zoe is determined to keep going. \u201cI take each day as it comes. I make the most of the good ones. And if I can do something to help others understand this condition, then that\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zoe thought it was just festive fatigue, but then started to swell and was unable to move 08:03,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[56734,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-360285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-bridgend","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}