text: 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 cannot 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 cannot 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 don'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.'
target: 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 .