A teenager who fell ill with flu four months ago is unable to move her arms and legs and can barely eat or talk . Doctors are still trying to find out what the future holds for 17-year-old Natasha Willard after she was diagnosed with inflammation of the brain when she fell ill while studying for her A-levels in Cwmbran in Wales . Miss Willard 's family are unsure how the teenager became ill so suddenly , just four days after she returned her feeling unwell . They are now trying to teach her to walk and talk again . Natasha Willard was studying for her A levels at college when she appeared to get the flu just before Christmas and her condition has worsened , leaving her unable to move her limbs and barely able to speak . Her stepmother Kirsty Willard said : 'The doctors are baffled , they do not know what happened . 'They have given her antibiotics and she is on steroids too . 'We are just left in limbo . The doctors have not said what the future holds ; they can not give us that information . ' Natasha has been diagnosed with encephalitis , an inflammation of the brain . Natasha appeared fit and well days before she came home ill , and appeared to quickly go down hill . Mrs Willard said doctors have told them they are unsure whether she will make progress , but have warned the family she is unlikely to fully return to herself . Natasha , from Cwmbran , was studying art and Welsh in the sixth form at Torfaen 's Llantarnam School when she fell ill. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain . Symptoms include seizures , convulsions , tremors , hallucinations , stroke , haemorrhaging , and memory loss . Encephalitis develops in reaction to a viral infection or when the body 's own immune system attacks brain tissue . The condition can also be caused by the immune system reacting to a tumour . Around 4,000 people are diagnosed with encephalitis every year . Some people make a full recovery from the condition but others can be left with permanent damage to the brain and complications including memory loss and epilepsy . She came home on December 5 after a night out with friends and went straight to bed . Over the next few days Miss Willard started vomiting and had aches and pains , and her family presumed she had the flu . But on December 9 she collapsed and was mumbling and had to be taken to hospital . The teenager can not remember the first four weeks of her illness and was unresponsive for the first three . She was then transferred from University of Wales Hospital , Cardiff , to Rookwood Hospital , also in Cardiff , for intensive physiotherapy and speech therapy . 'She can say a few words , ' said Mrs Willard . 'She can say `` Hi dad '' and `` Hi Kirsty . '' She can say her own name , and her brothers ' names , her sister 's name and she can say `` yeah . '' ' Mrs Willard said they are having to teach the 17-year-old everything from scratch , as if she is a child again . But , she adds that she has not complained about her condition . Mrs Willard , who works in a bar , said they are worried about the reaction of people when the teenager is discharged from hospital . ' I would hate to think her friends would see her in a wheelchair and abandon her , ' she said . Miss Willard ( left ) is pictured before her prom in 2014 and with her father Robert ( right ) before she became ill. Miss Willard 's family have been told by doctors that they do not know if she will make a full recovery . November will be the teenager 's 18th birthday and her family are hoping she will be able to come home . The family have been raising funds to pay for their hospital visits and have collected £700 packing bags in Cwmbran 's Asda . 'We rely on lifts and buses , ' Kirsty said . 'We do n't want to put too much on our families . When we take the kids it costs £17.10 . 'Without the kids it is still £8 each . '
Natasha Willard appeared to be suffering from flu just before Christmas . But four months later the teenager can barely move her limbs or talk . She has been diagnosed with encephalitis , or swelling , of the brain . Doctors are unsure whether Miss Willard , 17 , will be able to fully recover .