"As I sat up I turned my head to the side, but immediately straightened it again when I felt a sharp pain shoot through my neck."

"What if...the doctors couldn't find anything wrong? What if I was over-exaggerating the pain, weakness, and weird sensations?"

"Fatigue had started to set in...and now my eyes showed it as I struggled to keep them open."

"I wondered if there was anything [the doctor] could do to to make the pain disappear and my arms work again. I wondered if I was going to get any worse than I already was. If so, I wondered if he could fix that, too."

"Nothing worked. This blazing pain seemed only to be getting worse."