A young woman who made a remarkable recovery after she was struck down by a rare illness has abseiled 100ft down the side of a building.

Grace Etherington was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome in November, 2009.

The disease, which attacks and destroys the nervous system, resulted in the then 15-year-old being rushed from Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham to the Evelina Children’s Hospital at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

She was put on a ventilator after the condition affected her respiratory system, leaving her unable to breathe on her own. The former Highsted Grammar School student also suffered temporary paralysis. Only one in 100,000 people get the disease and only one in a million suffer such a severe attack but, after weeks on the ventilator and high doses of medication, she slowly began to make a recovery.

Fast forward almost six years and the 21 year-old is now firmly back on her feet.

Despite the fact she still gets tired easily and suffers from pain in her legs, she signed up for the abseil challenge which took place at King’s College Hospital last month in aid of the Evelina Children’s Hospital.

Miss Etherington said: “I felt very strongly about giving something back as they worked so hard to look after me, so when my mum’s friend Hayley Woolward found the abseil my mum Sharon asked me to do it. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to raise money and help the hospital look after future children.

“In 2009 I never thought I’d be able to do anything like this, it makes me feel really proud to have achieved something like this and to do it for such a good cause. To be able to do it with two ladies very close to me made the day even more special.”