Rugby-playing mum who feared she would die every night after agonising headaches caused by a brain bug led to PTSD lands dream female coaching job

A “fit and healthy” rugby-playing mum whose agonising headaches were caused by a brain bug that left her in a coma fighting for her life has bravely battled severe PTSD – fearing every night she was going to die – to make an incredible recovery.

Angelique Aldworth, 44, was the picture of health before she had three days of headaches and then a terrifying seizure in the early hours of March 13, 2020, during which she bit through her tongue and lost consciousness.

Rushed to hospital, medics diagnosed her with encephalitis – a rare but serious inflammation of the brain, which occurs when the body attacks itself in error and she was put into an induced coma.

Waking up 10 days later, on the first day lockdown restrictions were imposed in the country, feeling terrified, confused, and alone, she spent the next year dealing with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

But Angelique, who lives in Dawlish, Devon, with her husband of 19 years Colin Aldworth, 42, a construction site manager, their children, Ava, 16, and Larry, nine, is now living her dream of coaching her local female rugby teams, saying: “My family, my children and rugby were what made me feel determined to get back on my feet.

“I thought I was going to die every single night after I came home from hospital, and I saw no end in sight.”

She added: “But I knew that I had to do it for them.”

Speaking in the run up to World Encephalitis Day on February 22, Angelique, who is filled with optimism and determined to help more women play rugby, has now vowed the brain condition will not hold her back.

She said: “My plans won’t be stopped by encephalitis.”

Angelique had no health issues growing up and was extremely sporty – competing at a national level in baton twirling in her mid teens and taking up rugby later on in life in her 30s.

In 2014, she set up the women’s team at her local rugby club, Teignmouth Rugby Club, and then launched the girls’ team in 2017, which she coached.

And in 2019, she started studying sports development and coaching at Exeter College, with big dreams of coaching in the Women’s Rugby League and encouraging more women to take up the sport.

But she began to complain of headaches throughout February 2020.

She said: “The headaches were a thudding all over my head, it just felt like my whole head was suffering. It didn’t stop, I had no release unless I slept.

“When I woke up I had a headache, and when I slept I had a headache. It was all day.”

But Angelique still thought it would pass.

She said: “I thought I’d picked up a bug because I never suffered from headaches.

“I didn’t for one minute think it was going to be anything serious.”

Then on March 10, she dropped her children Ava and Larry at school before going home to rest because the pounding in her temples had become unbearable.

For the next three days she lay in bed, unable to move because of the pain which meant she could not lift her head off the pillow.

Deteriorating, she started demanding to be washed, because she was hallucinating that she was covered in vomit.

Recalling her horror, she said: “I thought I’d started feeling better and I got myself in the shower because I thought I was covered in sick.

“I was just convinced I had been sick. I’m not sure what I was feeling. It was just odd.”

The following morning, at around 5.30am, Colin was due to head out for an early gym session and walked into the bedroom to kiss Angelique goodbye.

He found her suffering a massive seizure and realised she had bitten through her tongue.

Angelique said: “I don’t remember anything at this point. I don’t remember the ambulance arriving.

“I was so lucky that Colin came to check on me. If he hadn’t, one of my children would have found me before they were meant to go school 30 minutes later and I don’t know if I would have been alive.”

Angelique was rushed to Torbay Hospital in Torquay, 20 minutes from her home, where she was immediately placed in an induced coma and put on a ventilator.

Initially believing she had contracted meningitis, doctors only discovered she had encephalitis following various CT scans, an MRI scan and a lumbar puncture.

Her doctors’ concerns grew with each passing day, as they attempted to lift her out of the coma five times, before putting her back in to protect her brain function.

Angelique said: “They tried to talk to me, to try and get me to respond but I didn’t. And they got more and more concerned.”

On the tenth day, she finally woke and further tests revealed she had the chicken pox virus – which she had as an infant and has no idea what caused it to flare up – which was attacking her right temple lobe.

Angelique, who has since discovered that, very rarely, according to the NHS, encephalitis may be result from common viruses that cause cold sores or chickenpox spreading to the brain, said: “They didn’t really know what I had until after I came out of the coma. Some of the staff said jokingly I was stubborn and I wasn’t willing to give up.”

She added: “I will never laugh at someone who says they’d seen a dead relative. In my dreams while in a coma, or what I thought was a dream, my nan visited me and she wasn’t very happy.

“She asked me what I was doing here.

“I distinctly remember asking myself if I was staying or if I was going – and I decided I wasn’t having any of it.”

Angelique was still in a daze after waking from her coma when she was dealt a further blow.

Colin and her parents Bernadette Bowes, 70, a retired businesswoman and Alan Stock, 71, a retired boiler and freezer engineer, were all forced to leave her side as the country shut down due to the pandemic on March 23, 2020.

She said: “That was the day Boris locked everything down. Within hours, my husband and my parents were asked to leave the hospital.”

She added: “Covid meant that I had to be on my own.

“I felt so lonely, and I was a bit scared. I didn’t fully understand what was happening.”

She spent the next five days in the high dependency ward, before she was moved to Devon’s Newton Abbot Community Hospital, where she would continue her rehabilitation before being allowed to return home – although she still had no idea what had caused her to be hospitalised.

She said: “I was so tired and I didn’t have a clue about what had happened.

“I remember being in the transport vehicle but not having a clue why I was in there.

“Stupidly, I didn’t ask because I couldn’t get the words out.”

Angelique was an emotional wreck throughout her lonely hospital stay and spent days crying as she had lost her independence – not even able to go to the toilet on her own, but without being able to explain any of it.

Eventually, neurologists relayed the harrowing details of what she had been through and she was left filled with dread about her future.

She said: “It was so overwhelming. I didn’t stop crying and I didn’t know if I had permanent brain injuries.”

She added: “I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to feed myself, or if I’d be able to play rugby again, or coach again.”

The following year was tremendously difficult for Angelique, despite the immense support she received from her husband and family, as she cried daily for months and suffered from nightly panic attacks.

She was also terrified of falling asleep as she worried she would not wake up.

Angelique said: “Colin is amazing. He has sat with me in the middle of the night while I had panic attacks and when I cried almost continually for the first 10 months, petrified that I was going to die.

“I couldn’t sleep, because I was frightened that if I did I wouldn’t wake up.”

Angelique lost 2st and 40 per cent of her muscle mass while she was in a coma, so, subsequently struggled with mundane day-to-day activities like showering or walking up and down stairs.

Finding her new reality hard to cope with, she began to see a psychologist, as she felt like she was never going to get better and was eventually diagnosed with PTSD.

She said: “I saw a psychologist for a year who I can now call a mate. She was a lifeline for me.

“I was diagnosed with PTSD because of what I went through.”

She added: “I was told continually that it would get better – but I didn’t believe it.”

Instead she was terrified she would never again be able to do the things she loved most.

She said: “I thought I’d never coach or play rugby again, perform physical activities with my children, get a full-time job, or complete my degree.”

She added: “I was worried about my cognitive ability, whether my IQ would be affected. My concentration levels were really poor.

“Anything would trigger tears. I was a mess for a year.”

Gradually, Angelique began to recover.

She completed her sports course in October 2021 and returned to coaching her local girls’ team alongside her loving husband, who had been coaching and playing rugby for over 30 years.

She also takes pride in coaching her daughter Ava, who plays second row in the girl’s team.

Angelique said: “We are a rugby family, it’s like a religion for us.”

She added: “I’m feeling really optimistic now. March 13 will be the two year anniversary, and I didn’t think I would be where I am now two years ago.

“I live to promote female rugby and I feel so passionate about what I’m doing.”

* To find out more about encephalitis go to https://www.encephalitis.info/