Covid: Shielding woman's vaccine day 'feels like Christmas'

Amy-Claire was wrongly diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child.

A woman who has been shielding since the start of the coronavirus pandemic says getting the vaccine makes her feel "like a kid on Christmas morning".

Amy-Claire Davies, from Swansea, has an unknown genetic condition and was not expected to live past childhood.

The 26-year-old takes more than 40 pills a day, lives in constant pain and needs round-the-clock care.

She will get the first of her two jabs later, at her local GP surgery.

Amy-Claire lives life to the full despite needing round-the-clock care for her degenerative condition

She told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast with Claire Summers she was so excited she had only managed about two hours' sleep.

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"I've just been so excited," she said.

"It feels like just kind of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel."

Amy-Claire loves travelling and has been to Amsterdam twice

Ms Davies suffers from spasms, which leave her struggling to breathe and her heart rate rising to a dangerous level.

'Peace of mind'

This experience has left her with post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and anxiety.

Amy-Claire Davies' heart rate rises to dangerous levels during a spasm and she often needs oxygen

She said: "This time around with the lockdown, I have found it harder because I think last year it was lighter in the day and easier to get out for a walk.

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"We haven't been anywhere for a year, we haven't been in the shop, we haven't been anywhere, but the only thing that we missed from when things were a bit more relaxed was being able to drive somewhere different to go for a walk now and again.

"It's dark in the morning, it's dark in the night you have days where you think, 'I there any point getting out of my pyjamas?',".

But she said having a routine and keeping busy stopped life feeling like Groundhog Day.

Amy-Claire, aged 10, when it was believed she had cerebral palsy

"I've never been so excited for an injection... it is the freedom and it's the peace of mind," she added.