WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Jessica Perez, a mom of seven from Belton, is fighting to regain her strength after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome in March, a rare autoimmune disorder that caused her to be paralyzed.

“Guillain-Barré took a lot from me. It took my independence. It took the life that I once had,” she said.

The diagnosis came as a shock. Perez said she felt flu-like symptoms about two weeks prior, and brushed off the feeling of heaviness throughout her body. On a Thursday night, just three days before her hospitalization, she even took her kids out to dinner. Then, the unimaginable happened.

“That Sunday morning, I was completely paralyzed,” she said.

By Monday, Perez was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after severe difficulty breathing. Little did she know, her

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