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For five years, the 17-year-old from Bolton, Greater Manchester, has suffered from Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS) — a complex neurological disorder.
She needs excessive amounts of rest as a result and even slept through her GCSE exams.
Only 45 people in the UK have been diagnosed with the condition.
Shannon, who has two brothers and three sisters, said the condition has changed her life.
She said: “It is like being awake in a coma. It takes part of your life away with it. It’s like I’m in my own little world and I don’t recognise people.”
Shannon has episodes each month, which usually last about 12 days, during which time she can sleep for about 22 hours per day.
When she is awake, her behaviour changes as she can become aggressive and demands sweets and chocolate, and needs around-the-clock care from her parents. It also affects her memory, and she says huge chunks of her teenage years are blank.
Shannon said: “I struggled through secondary school, and the teachers didn’t believe what was happening to me. I didn’t really like to tell anyone at school, so I drifted away from a lot of people and I failed some of my GCSEs because I was in a sleepy episode.”
After years of tests and examinations, Shannon was finally diagnosed with KLS after her dad, Christopher Dodd, researched her symptoms online. — Daily Mail
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