‘I was bitten by tick and it felt like alien trying to get out of my head’

A duathlete who was rushed to hospital with brain inflammation so severe he described it as feeling like there was “an alien trying to get out” of his head has opened up about what it was like to receive his rare diagnosis of tick-borne encephalitis. Bill Lankford, 62, a retired scientist living in Cambridge, said his sudden cold-like symptoms of fatigue, muscle ache and fever began after he completed a 50km ultra-distance swim-run across Scandinavia with his wife, Christina Lankford, 60, in August 2025.

After roughly a week, Bill said he appeared to “feel a bit better” before he started experiencing headaches and flu-like symptoms, leading him to take a Covid-19 test that returned a negative result. Bill said he visited his GP within two and a half weeks owing to “quite bad headaches”, but they were unable to account for his symptoms.

The following day, Bill made his way to hospital, where doctors suggested the cause might be tick-borne Lyme disease. He was prescribed antibiotics and told he “should be feeling better” within days.

However, Bill described the next three days as ones for which “there are no words in the English language to describe how painful” they were, as he endured crippling headaches, disrupted sleep, problems with balance, blackouts, and sensitivity to “flickering lights and fast-moving images”. He returned to hospital and underwent what he described as “hundreds” of tests — including cerebrospinal fluid sampling — before receiving a diagnosis of tick-borne encephalitis in September 2025, at the age of 61.

Bill said: “It’s quite difficult for medical staff to diagnose. I was basically tested for everything from Aids to Zika… it’s only when they did a spinal tap of the cerebrospinal fluid that they found the virus.

“But due to the illness and brain pressure, I don’t remember any of the discussions about the diagnosis while in the hospital. I think for anyone who’s going through anything to do with encephalitis, you don’t take it all in.”

Tick-borne encephalitis is a viral infection transmitted through tick bites that can trigger flu-like symptoms, loss of consciousness, severe headache, memory difficulties, emotional or behavioural changes and seizures, according to Encephalitis International. Prior to his diagnosis, Bill described himself as being in “very good shape” and enjoying a “happy and healthy life” alongside his wife Christina, particularly since the couple began taking part in swim-run events from 2016 onwards.

Bill explained that each race involved swimming and running across archipelagos or through lake districts while wearing a “wetsuit and shoes” throughout. In August 2025, the pair flew to Stockholm and completed several practice swim-runs with friends ahead of the main event on August 9 on the Aland archipelago, situated halfway between Sweden and Finland.

Bill said: “You’re running through the forests, cliffs and beaches and swimming across the bays and in between the islands. It was about 10km of swimming and just over 40km of running.”

Despite the event being “quite hardcore”, Bill maintained a “steady pace” and felt “really good” from start to finish, completing the course within 11 hours. The couple then took time to unwind afterwards, enjoying tubs and saunas as well as camping and sightseeing, during which Bill noticed what he believed to be red midge and mosquito bites on his body.

According to the NHS, tick bites are not usually painful, but they can cause a red lump to develop, as well as swelling, itchiness, blistering and bruising. It is important to remove ticks quickly and carefully with tweezers to gently grip it as close to the skin as possible and pull steadily away without crushing it.

It was during the journey back to the UK, approximately five days after completing the race, that Bill recalled beginning to experience what he believed was a “cold coming on”, with symptoms including fatigue, muscle ache and fever.

He said: “I completely rationalised it, with all of the transport we took and people from different countries. Of course I might get a cold because my immune system is probably a bit depressed from the event.”

After roughly a week, Bill noticed his symptoms beginning to ease, only for a persistent headache and flu-like symptoms to take hold. By the time he consulted a doctor around two-and-a-half weeks after first falling ill, Bill said his headache had deteriorated, yet his GP was unable to identify the cause and advised him to monitor his condition and attend hospital should it fail to improve.

This led to Bill being prescribed antibiotics for suspected Lyme disease, but after just three days of treatment, his debilitating headaches intensified dramatically.

Bill said: “Now my headache is like an alien trying to get out of my head. There are no words in the English language to describe how painful it is.”

Despite taking paracetamol and ibuprofen, Bill found himself only able to sleep in 20-minute intervals due to the severity of his pain. He also experienced problems with his balance and coordination, an inability to lift his feet properly, a heightened sensitivity to bright lights and moving images, and what he described as “momentary blackouts”.

He made his way to A&E by taxi, where he was admitted and placed on an IV drip of “antivirals, antifungals and antibacterials”. Over the course of three days, Bill underwent a battery of tests ranging from “Aids to Zika”, yet doctors initially had “no idea” what was wrong, as tick-borne encephalitis is regarded as rare in the UK, according to Encephalitis International.

Taking into account his recent travels to Scandinavia, medical staff carried out cerebrospinal fluid sampling, which confirmed the diagnosis. Bill remained in hospital for a week, during which the IV treatment began to show signs of improvement, though his recovery proved to be a lengthy process.

Bill said: “Without anyone at home, I couldn’t have looked after myself. It’s a bizarre thing where you come out of hospital in a wheelchair and then go to your bed and just tough it out.”

According to the UK Government, there is no specific treatment for tick-borne encephalitis, though a preventative vaccine does exist. Bill urged “anyone who is active” in tick-prone areas to “consider” getting vaccinated.

In the immediate aftermath of his diagnosis, Bill revealed he could not “walk more than 500 metres” at a time and was forced to rely on a walking stick owing to problems with balance and coordination.

He has also endured spontaneous muscle tremors, difficulties with spatial awareness, nightmares, chronic fatigue, emotion regulation issues, anxiety, and short-term memory loss. Nine months on from his diagnosis, Bill said he has gradually rebuilt his physical fitness by incrementally extending his dog walks, embarking on short bicycle rides, and taking up pilates.

This past weekend, he managed to complete his first swim-run event since contracting tick-borne encephalitis — a gruelling 22km course in Dorset.

Reflecting on the progress he has made, Bill said: “In terms of physical fortitude, I’m pretty proud. I would never be able to do the long distance events that we did – that’s clearly off the table – but I’m able to do much shorter events. It’s not perfect, but I’m really pleased with that.”

For more information about Encephalitis International, visit its website.