A Kent mother-of-two has recovered from the flu - and started speaking with a French accent.

Debie Royston, from Gillingham, suffered a series of seizures after a bad bout of the illness.

The 40-year-old, originally from Birmingham, lost the ability to speak for a month.

But when her voice did come back, Debie was shocked to discover her Brummie accent was gone.

She is believed to have suffered from a rare condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome.

Debie, who has lived in Kent for 17 years, said: "I had a bad seizure and when it stopped my husband asked if I was ok. I had words in my head but my mouth wouldn't work.

"Over the next month, I had to learn to speak again. Only when I did, I could hear a different sound, not my Brummie accent.

"Everybody said I sounded French but I've never even been there."

Medics were baffled by Debie's condition after tests came back clear, so she was referred to a speech therapist.

They suspected she had Foreign Accent Syndrome, a rare medical condition that leaves a person speaking in a different accent due to a brain injury, stroke or migraine.

This diagnosis was confirmed in March last year when Debie was sent to see an expert in speech and language at Newcastle University.

Foreign Accent Syndrome affects just 60 people worldwide and there is currently no known cure.

Debie said: "People speak to me and say: 'where are you from?' and when I say Birmingham, they look at me like I'm lying about it. They say: 'no, you're French.'"

"sometimes i think it would be easier just to say i am from france but then people might start asking me questions about it or talking french to me… – debie royston”

When Debie developed flu like symptoms, she put it down to a virus and assumed she would soon recover. But when her condition worsoned, her 41-year-old husband Andy took her to Medway Maritime Hospital.

She was discharged because doctors couldn't find anything medically wrong.

But when she started having up to ten seizures a day, she was rushed back into hospital.

While waiting to see a neurologist, she suffered another seizure - and was left unable to speak.

With the help of intensive speech therapy, she started talking again about a month later but her voice was unrecognisable to family and friends.

Debie, who has been forced to give up her job as a teaching assistant and now walks with a stick because she has also been left with muscle weakness, said: "I was so happy I could talk but when I started to say words I was thinking this is not how I speak. It didn't sound like me.

"In the beginning, I couldn't see the funny side of it but as time goes by you learn to laugh. We joke a lot in our house.

"Sometimes I think it would be easier just to say I am from France but then people might start asking me questions about it or talking French to me.

"It's ironic really because Folkstone is only down the road from us so I could get the Eurotunnel to Paris but I've never been to France."