S9 Ep8: Abi Burton on rugby, encephalitis, and how being sectioned changed her life

This week on the #MondayMile podcast, I’m joined by Team GB rugby player and Olympian Abi Burton. Abi shared the incredible story of her struggle with encephalitis, a rare autoimmune disease that left her in a medically induced coma. In the spring of 2022 Abi’s teammates first noticed that she was acting ‘strange’, and she was originally diagnosed with depression. She then began to have seizures and was sectioned with a misdiagnosis of stress induced psychosis. Eventually, she was diagnosed with encephalitis and put into a medically induced coma for 26 days. Whilst we stroll around West London, we get into the mind-boggling story of Abi’s illness, how it affected her parents and how it has changed the way she views her life now. Abi’s now firmly focussed on balancing her own rugby aspirations with coaching the next generation of players, as she hopes to be able to continue to shape young girls lives. It’s super inspiring! Abi’s story is fascinating and I hope all you Monday Mile listeners will agree! You can find more about Abi on the NEW Sporty AF series from Team GB. A group of inspirational female athletes laying all cards on the table. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6Gb4oJKgJY Aimee will be probing for answers from the full spectrum of routines; the early birds who have finely tuned Monday mornings, to the late risers who struggle to get up before 11am. How do elite athletes find the motivation to kick start their week come rain or shine? How do celebrities deliver no matter what the time of day? What knowledge can they pass on? Each episode drops on a Monday morning as a bitesize piece of content and weekly dose of motivation - right when you need it. Aimee will meet each of her guests for a walk and a chat and over the course of the mile she will find out how they cope on a Monday morning - their idiosyncrasies, breakfast routines, alarm noises - and how, when they need to, find the motivation to kick-on through the week. Sharing some of Britain's greatest athletes, entrepreneurs, doctors, authors and broadcasters ’ secrets on self-motivation, candid thoughts on what they struggle with and a sideways look at some of their more unusual morning habits. Head over to IG to watch the visuals of our episode and what we get up to on our Monday Mile. https://www.instagram.com/aimee_fuller/ Listen now on your favourite podcast platform!