When Lottie Conway woke up in hospital in April 2020 she hadn’t a clue where she was, or how she got there but that wasn’t all she didn’t know because it slowly began to dawn on her that her memories had been wiped – it was then she began to feel scared, very scared.

The night before Lottie had had a huge seizure at her St Leonards home. Her mum Kate Tym recalls the terror of having to hold an oxygen mask over Lottie’s face as the paramedic warned that Lottie could stop breathing. And of course in April 2020 we were still in complete lock down so when the ambulance took Lotti to hospital no one could go with her, she was all on her own.

It took some time but they diagnosed the 19-year-old with Autoimmune Encephalitis. Some 16 months on her memory has not fully recovered and doctors don’t know if it ever will but with the help and support of her family and boyfriend Lottie is fighting to live as normal a life as she can.

Lottie, Kate and Arron talked to Hastings In Focus about the ordeal and how a loving family and a sense of humour have pulled them through.

Listen here…