Stallone Edmonds Tepania fighting fit after Guillain-Barre syndrome

Stallone Edmonds Tepania with her daughter Haylah-Nix Tepania, in January 2019. Photo / File

It has been a "life-changing year" for Stallone Edmonds Tepania, in many ways.

On November 23, 2018, Stallone was diagnosed with the rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disease with no known cause or cure.

The autoimmune disorder, which causes the body's immune system to attack its own tissue, left Stallone in a wheelchair with muscle weakness up to her waist.

Doctors told her it would be up to a year before she could walk again - but the gym owner, self-proclaimed "health freak" and mum of a toddler was determined to beat the odds.

And she did. Six months after her diagnosis Stallone was doing what she loved and was strong enough to bend down and pick up her daughter, a mother's privilege which she had missed dearly.

"It is quite overwhelming looking back because when it all happened I was out of it.

"It gets me emotional looking at photos of that time. It sends me back to that feeling of pain."

Stallone said there was no progress on what caused the autoimmune disease to paralyse parts of her body, but in her interview with the Rotorua Daily Post earlier in the year, she disclosed 2018 had been the year from hell.

Multiple deaths in the family, her house being ruined in the Ngongotahā floods and a marriage hiccup - Stallone said she wasn't surprised if her body had needed a rest.

But she said the year had gone by quickly, all things considering.

"If I had not walked this whole year I would think it had been ages, but I have bounced back pretty fast.

"It has its days. Most days are good days but I will still have those times when I am set back.

"It is just a matter of listening to my own body to the point that if I am sick I will let myself be sick - so that I don't go into another hole."

Life is short is the lesson she has learnt and now she makes sure to give everything she can to each day.

"There are no excuses.

"When you lose everything, as in your body, you quickly realise how dependent you are.

"Just simple stuff like needing to go to town, but 'I can't drive' and 'who is going to push my wheelchair' or 'who is going to get the stuff off the shelf?'

"Now my outlook is whatever I can give I will give to myself and to others."

Donating to charities and sharing her journey at public events are just some of the ways Stallone hopes to be able to make a difference in people's lives.

"It is my way of paying God back - he saved me so I will do my best to save others in return. I am living this life of 'tomorrow is not promised', so as long as I am alive today I will try to do everything I can."

And now fitter than ever, Stallone has a set of new challenges against her - she is now pregnant with her second child.

Many could say she is a courageous and determined woman but Stallone says, "I'll always be humble enough to admit I did not get here on my own."