Helen Waterson: The Real Life "Sleeping Beauty" dreams to be a bride one day

The fairy tale of Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" is quite soothing and love-filled as "the kiss from the prince (only true love) woke the princess from her cursed slumber--but not so for Helen Waterson from Aberporth in South Wales, who suffers from a rare condition that causes her to sleep for 21 hours a day.

Her tale and version of Sleeping Beauty is heartbreaking and pitiful. Helen cannot remember her first day at school or her first kiss.

36-year-old Helen manages to stay awake for the other three hours only by taking heavy drugs with debilitating side-effects (including poor coordination, extreme muscle pain, facial twitches and melasma, which causes black patches to appear on Helen’s face). She is exhausted and in constant agony, unable to do anything more than struggle to the sofa in the little time she is able to stay awake. Ms. Waterson said:

“At least in the fairytale she got to wake from her sleep.I go through life either sleeping or feeling like I’m sleepwalking. I’ve missed all the important moments of my life. I don’t have a social life; I don’t have a love life. With this illness you don’t live, you just exist.”

(keep reading after the cut)...

Helen has Kleine-Levin Syndrome – dubbed Sleeping Beauty Syndrome (diagnosed four years ago) – which has no known cure and affects and the illness has just 1,000 known sufferers worldwide. The condition is believed to have also affected her long-term memory. She  has no recollection of the holidays, birthdays and Christmases when she was pictured smiling for the camera when she goes through her family album.

Ms. Waterson added: “My body is often so stiff and exhausted I can’t do the washing up, let alone socialise. Some days I just lie on the sofa because my muscles are so sore. I can’t even go out to celebrate my mum’s birthday next month because it will be too exhausting. I was looking at the menu and tried to ask what type of fish they were serving. But I was so tired I couldn’t get my words out properly and asked, ‘what is a fish? Before I could correct myself, my family started laughing at me and it became a joke that ran for years.”

Helen continued: "Looking back on my youth is like watching snippets from a film, fast-forwarding huge sections in between. I knew back then there was something wrong with me, but nobody knew about Sleeping Beauty Syndrome in the 1980s. They just called it ‘daydreaming’. Finally receiving a diagnosis was a relief. Doctors told me I could use medication to control it, but the condition will continue to get worse.”

Helen is one of the most extreme cases and is only able to stay awake with the aid of medication. She says that without the drugs she would barely wake at all.

Though odd and bizarre, its saddening and heartbroken. Helen however, agreed to speak to the Sunday Mirror to help raise awareness of the condition that will continue to blight all areas of her life.

Sadly she has accepted that the syndrome means she will always be alone. Yet she hopes one day she would be a bride.

"I can’t expect anyone to want to be in a relationship with someone like that. I really miss the companionship and I’d love to be a bride one day, but I can’t get married without a man. I’ve accepted being by myself because I feel I’ve been by myself in one way or another my whole life. Unlike the fairytale, I won’t be getting a happily ever after, " Helen concluded.

Via: Mirror Uk