Barbie Wharton's resilience was really tested in 2015 when she woke up with Bells Palsy, a condition that causes a temporary weakness or paralysis of the muscles in the face. It can occur when the nerve that controls the facial muscles becomes inflamed, swollen, or compressed and it causes one side of your face to droop or become stiff.  In Barbie’s case, it was very sudden. She woke up on a Monday morning and when she was getting the kids ready for school realised one side of her face looked different. Her doctor prescribed steroids and anti-virals but Barbie tried a lot of other things such as acupuncture, acupressure, essential oils, prolo therapy, fascial stretch therapy as well as seeing a naturopath.

She also did a lot of research and came to the conclusion that in her case, developing Bells Palsy was about not using her voice to speak up and letting other people’s idea of what was picture perfect affect her. She was trying to be everything to everyone, the perfect mum, perfect partner with the perfect house and the perfect life which was exhausting. She needed to lose her illusion of what her life should look like.