Just a few years ago, Danielle Pieton was a super fit road cyclist who had just achieved her long-held dream of moving to France.
The Brit, now 51, was excitedly beginning her new life abroad, having just set up a successful business with her partner.
That was until January 2022, when she underwent the Moderna vaccine for Covid and had her world turned upside down within a matter of hours.
Rushed to hospital with chest pain, the cyclist spent two weeks in intensive cardiac care, and was left needing a permanent pacemaker having suffered complete heart block, she said.
Now Ms Pieton, from Cornwall, revealed she is still learning to live with her ‘damaged body’, having recently been diagnosed with Post Vaccine Syndrome (PVS), for which there is no cure.
She told MailOnline: ‘I spent over two years wanting to be dead as the symptoms were so dreadful.
‘Just today my head felt like I was being injected with helium.
‘Previous to this I was a very fit 48-year-old road cyclist, full of energy and dreams.’
Danielle Pieton (pictured) said she was a fit and healthy road cyclist before she had the Moderna vaccine in 2022
Ms Pieton in hospital after falling seriously ill, shortly after having the Moderna jab
Ms Pieton, who now lives in Séez, in the French Alps, said she still suffers from intermittent chest pain and breathlessness, but is finally able to walk most days and ride an e-bike.
Less than 12 hours after the vaccine she suffered ‘intense dizziness, breathlessness and chest pain’, she explained, before being rushed to hospital where she spent a fortnight in intensive cardiac care.
The then 48-year-old was left with a permanent pacemaker, having been diagnosed with complete heart block, she said.
The cyclist left hospital unable to walk unaided, she added, with no answers as to what had happened to her.
‘The dizziness was almost unbearable, with intense head pressure (I thought my head was going to explode),’ she said.
‘Constant fatigue, pins and needles in my hands and legs, numbness in my feet and face, blurred vision, severe muscle loss, ongoing chest pain and breathlessness.’
Ms Pieton was then given six months of vestibular rehabilitation, she said, as well as six months of ‘vision re-education, endless physio and muscle rehab’.
‘My doctor and various consultants tested me, keeping me in hospital for lumbar punctures, MRIs […] and tried countless meds to try and help me,’ she said.
