Lucky To Be Alive

A rare virus left the life of globetrotting television producer Emma Martins hanging in the balance. Five years on she is inspiring others with her extraordinary determination

- Rachel Buller

Emma Martins was living her dream life. Not only was she a successful television producer, she was fulfilling her passion for travel as her career took her around the globe.

But five years ago a holiday with friends in Vietnam turned her world upside down; a life-threatening virus saw her battling to simply survive, followed by an even longer battle to learn how to live again.

Emma, who grew up in Norfolk, was in hospital for months and given only a 20% chance of survival. Miraculously she made it through, but the virus has left her with a serious brain injury, partial sight, cognitive fatigue and severe dyslexia.

Determined not to give up, she began to piece her life back together, gradually relearning basic skills and readjusting to the huge change in her life.

The virus she contracted in Vietnam, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), caused a sudden inflammation of the brain and spinal cord but, she says, initially there was little clue as to how serious it was.

“I just didn’t feel quite right and had a bit of an upset stomach. I don’t remember too much about it now – my brain obviously wanted to forget it. But I do remember being in a museum in Ho Chi Minh City and I couldn’t keep track of what I was reading on the information boards. I must have just ignored it and followed the others.

“But on the last day, by chance, we ran into a doctor I knew from London and he told me to immediately go to hospital when I landed. I managed to make it off the flight and to the Royal London Hospital and within a very short amount of time, I couldn’t see and was in a critical condition. I didn’t leave hospital for four months.”