LIFE changing treatment which helps a woman to walk, speak and sleep may have to stop in a month because she has run out of money.

Sharon Crossley, 39, of Aldham House Lane, Wombwell, is paying for her own acupuncture treatment because the NHS cannot provide it for her. But by the end of next month, she will have spent all her savings and will have to stop the treatments.

Sharon was only the 56th person in the UK to be diagnosed with the rare stiff joint syndrome. At her worst she suffered chronic pain and stiffness nearing paralysis. She said she was unable to walk or even speak because her jaw became so stiff. She was unable hold a knife and fork or a drinking glass because she could not straighten her fingers.

But in May this year, she started seeing a Chinese doctor who specialises in acupuncture. She said: “Thank God I found her. She has turned my life around. In May she promised me I would be out of my wheelchair by October, but I was out of it two months early in August.

“Now I can talk better, I can eat and drink, I can go out shopping if I’ve got my trolley and someone with me, and I can even walk about the house without it. Coun Dick Wraith helped me get a bungalow which is much better.”

The acupuncture costs £25 a session. She has four a week and she also takes Chinese medication which costs £30 a week. She says her one wish is to keep having her sessions with the doctor.

“I just can’t do without her. Before I couldn’t sleep more than two hours a night because my arm was so stiff it felt like it could snap."

Sharon says her GP has tried already and was unable to provide acupuncture.

A Trust spokesperson said: “Acupuncture is not routinely available on the NHS, however the PCT is aware that certain clinicians and practices do offer acupuncture as part of a wider treatment programme. People are advised to seek the guidance of their GP who would be able to provide specific advice to each individual need.”