Farmer Kaitie was hanging out her family’s washing when an unexpected discovery led to devastating diagnosis

Kaitie Nash was hanging out the washing on her family’s farm when her hands suddenly turned blue.

Moments later, the 37-year-old farmer couldn’t open her eyes, lift her arms or speak, despite being fully conscious.

Speaking to Daily Mail, the mum-of-two from Coonabarabran, NSW, said she has since been diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), a little-known condition that disrupts how the brain sends and receives signals.

Yet in cases like hers, it’s not formally recognised as a permanent disability.

Now, the fiercely independent rural mum is fighting to regain control of her body while navigating life on a remote property without the support many city Australians take for granted.

Kaitie and her husband uprooted their young family from Darwin to rural NSW in 2018 to run a cattle farm next door to her father-in-law.

At the time, she was a new mum to two small children, stepping into an entirely new world and facing the stress of one of Australia’s driest years.

But looking back now, she wondered if the relentless stress of drought, isolation and raising young children may have taken a toll.

‘FND is a lot to do with your nervous system,’ she told Daily Mail.

‘I look back and think there were probably a lot of things I didn’t deal with properly. It’s a big combination of a lot of things.’

After her first hospital visit in September 2025, Kaitie was transferred to Dubbo, where she underwent MRI scans and neurological tests to determine what was wrong.

The doctors were baffled, but then the episode struck again in front of them.

‘The first thing I said to my husband was, “I can’t talk”,’ she recalled, as tremors began building.

‘It’s like I know what I want to say, but I just can’t say it.’

‘Sometimes there’s a dizzy feeling, then the tremors. It always starts on my right side and my shoulders and legs begin to shake.’

To an onlooker, the episodes can resemble epileptic seizures, but according to Kaitie, she remains completely conscious and insists there is nothing ‘electrical’ happening in her brain.

‘It’s this dissociative attack. I’m awake and aware of it.’

Doctors eventually told Kaitie they suspected she had Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), which is a neurological condition caused by changes in how brain networks function, rather than structural damage to the brain itself.

Brain scans such as MRI and CT are often normal. However, the brain struggles to properly send and receive signals, leading to very real physical symptoms.

These can include seizure-like episodes, movement problems, tremors, speech difficulties, dizziness, extreme fatigue and cognitive issues.

Importantly, symptoms are not intentionally produced and for some the disorder is short-lived, but for others, it can last years and make them wheelchair-bound.

‘There are people who are wheelchair-bound from this, and also children who have it.’

‘I’d take this over my kids having it any day.’

Despite how debilitating the episodes can be, Kaitie’s condition is not formally recognised as a permanent disability in her case, which limits the support sufferers can receive.

Currently, she is unable to drive for three months due to her non-epileptic seizure-like episodes – a restriction she says is life-altering when you live and work on a remote rural property.

‘Food shopping is 50 kilometres into town and 50 kilometres back. We have to get our kids to school, and my appointments mean my husband has to take time off to take me,’ she added.

Like many families doing it tough, Kaitie and her husband had previously cancelled their private health insurance to manage costs.

Now, specialist physio, occupational therapy and psychological support, which are ideally delivered through a multidisciplinary team, are hundreds of kilometres away.

However, since going public with her diagnosis, Kaitie has joined online support groups and is determined to raise awareness of her little-known condition.

‘I really hope to utilise my online platform to bring more awareness to it.

‘If you’re looking for information, use the search bar in those groups. If it’s not there, put a post up in the chats. It’s vulnerable, but it’s worth it.’

Her community and family have since rallied behind her too in a bid to help cover mounting medical, travel and accommodation costs while she seeks treatment. 

But time, she said, is critical.

‘I think with anything neurological, the quicker you start doing something, the better.

‘If you can start doing things to help yourself, your chances of recovering in a good way are a lot better.’

For now, the fiercely independent farmer is learning to accept help, something she admits doesn’t come easily.

‘My boys have been amazing, they’ve stepped up. But I also think, you shouldn’t have to do that.’

As she navigates life with a condition that remains largely misunderstood, Kaitie hopes sharing her story will shine a light on a disorder that hides in plain sight.