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Sam Philpott enjoyed a holiday with her parents, Ian, 52, and Tracey, 51, in Kos, Greece, where she ate a "significant amount" of unpasteurised goats' cheese.

Just weeks later, the now-22-year-old started feeling debilitating migraines, constant vomiting and nausea, fevers and shakes, crippling weakness, exhaustion, fatigue and "incapacitating pain."

Her condition worsened and now, three years later, she has been left bedbound and barely able to walk.

"Who knew that unpasteurised cheese; that is delicious and has brought me much momentary happiness, could cause the mind numbing and wanting to end my life type of pain that I have been suffering with," Sam said.

She continued: "While in Kos in 2013 I enjoyed some lovely goat's cheese on my pizzas, spread on my sandwiches, and in my salad.

"With each mouthful, to my unfortunate complete lack of knowledge and utter surprise, I was ingesting the bacteria that has led to my being bedridden."

(Image: PA Real Life)

Brucellosis , virtually wiped out in the UK, originates from animals and can cause long-lasting flu-like symptoms.

Sam, who is receiving intravenous (IV) therapy treatment- the infusion of antibiotics and vitamin supplements directly into the vein- at Sponaugle Wellness Institute , Florida, USA, believes she contracted it after eating the unpasteurised cheese on holiday.

Within a few weeks, her symptoms intensified so rapidly she needed a wheelchair.

Now she has been left with a list of extreme flu-like symptoms, with the addition of memory loss, insomnia and speech loss.

"The bacteria has not only taken my ability to live a normal functioning life, but my bubbly spirit," she said.

It is not the first time she has been taken ill following a brush with nature – and her family believe the two incidents could be connected.

In late 2010, while walking in the trails of the Weimar Institute where she was studying at the time in California, USA, Sam was bitten on the bicep of her right arm and on her left leg by a tick.

The bites looked bruised, swelling up and turning black.

(Image: PA Real Life)

Next, the former nursery assistant from Walsall, West Midlands, developed extreme flu-like symptoms including crippling joint pain, depression, anxiety, nausea, and poor concentration.

Needing help, in 2011 she moved back from California to her parents' house in Southport, Merseyside.

She said that several doctors suggested her symptoms might be psychological.

Then Sam was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a rheumatic condition characterised by muscular or musculoskeletal pain and stiffness, after seeing a rheumatologist and physiotherapist at the Southport and Forby District General Hospital.

(Image: Getty)

But, by 2012 she was bedridden by pain for part of every week and needed crutches to walk.

Six months later, she needed a walking frame.

Speaking on her behalf, her brother, recruitment officer Joe Philpott, 24, of Bracknell, Berkshire, said: "My mum became her full-time carer, dressing her and bathing her.

"The pain - in varying parts of her body- became so bad, she would be on the bed rocking, unable to make herself comfortable.

He continued: "Emotionally, it was really difficult and what really hurt her was having to drop out of college."

Now Sam's immune system has shut down and it is not known how she will respond to the IV treatment, according to her brother.

"At the clinic, they have said she is one of the worst patients they have seen, in terms of how far her illness has progressed."

He continued: "It's a kick in the teeth, but she has faith they'll be able to help."

"At Sponaugle, doctors believe that she more than likely contracted Brucellosis the summer she was in Kos- so they think it is linked to eating cheese," Joe told.

He said the symptoms fit the diagnosis and the Brucellosis is what is now causing Sam's significant pain in her spine.

At the clinic in Florida, Sam had 32 blood vials taken on the first day and a CAT scan.

She is currently receiving medication for Brucellosis and for Lyme disease – a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks- as her symptoms fit both diseases and are not only due to the Brucellosis.

"Brucellosis and Lyme disease have completely ruined and taken my life from me," Sam said. "If left untreated for a long time, Brucellosis can be serious."

Joe added: "She just wants to go back to studying and get her life back."

The family are fundraising for Sam's ongoing treatment costs. To donate visit https://www.gofundme.com/28hc6v6g