Woman begs to die after insect bite leaves her bed-ridden for 11 years

23-year-old Kirsty Keep who contracted lupus after she was bitten by a bug in her back garden in Maidstone, Kent when she was 12 years old has been bed-ridden for 11 years and has told her family she wants to die in a suicide assisted clinic in Switzerland.

According to her mum she spent three weeks in the hospital after the incident as the bite grew to the side of a hand. By the age of 16, her face was paralysed by Bell’s palsy.

Kirsty also started having seizures 18 months ago and  because of her condition, her immune system attacks healthy cells, tissue and organs. Speaking from her hospital bed, Kirsty said:

“My bones feel like they’re being snapped and my muscles ripped.  “It feels like there’s someone inside me pulling my insides.”

Her mother Theresa believes she was bitten by a tick. She said:

“When she has bad days you feel like you’re watching her go,” said Theresa. “She’s begged me to take her to Switzerland and said she doesn’t want to do it any more.

“That’s not something you want to hear from your daughter. You’re heartbroken every day. “Every few months, when she can’t stop being sick, she has to come into hospital and go on a drip because she’s dehydrated. All she wants is a normal life.