A WOMAN who has been unable to have a bath on her own for three years in case she suffered an epileptic fit was celebrating today.

Big-hearted sponsors fitted a new shower in her home.

Anna Riding, 24, made an appeal for help through the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in March, just a week after 22-year-old epileptic Sam Fogg died in her bath in Selkirk Street, Burnley.

Anna, of Belgrave Road, Darwen, said she had had to rely on her disabled mother to help her every time she had a bath in case she had a seizure.

She said: "It's been a nightmare because my mum has a bad back and finds it hard to lift me when I have a fit because my body stiffens and shakes uncontrollably.

"I've had about five fits when I have been in the bath. It's not been fair on her because she finds it difficult to hold me and get me out.

"With a shower it will be a lot easier if I do have a fit."

After her appeal in the Evening Telegraph, a new top-of-the-range unit was been installed thanks to Manhattan Showers of Burnley, Mira Showers and W.P.S. Plumbers' Supplies of Darwen.

Anna suffers from seizures two or three times a week.

She said: "I could only have a bath about once a week because I was very scared of having a fit while in the water.

"A shower will make a world of difference to my everyday life. I can be a lot more independent and take a shower in privacy whenever I want because I won't risk drowning."

Anna had to give up her home and her work as a waitress in Blackpool when she was diagnosed with epilepsy three years ago.

Now she is unable to work because of her condition and has to live on disability benefits at her parents' home.

She said: "There was no way I could afford to buy myself a shower unit. I would have had to save up for years."

Epilepsy is caused by a brief disruption of the brain function following abnormal electrical activity in the nerve cells. It affects one in 130 people in the UK.

Secretary of Epilepsy Action in Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley, Peter Dunn, said: "Anna needs her privacy, and she has been unable to have that because every time she had a bath she needed to have her mother with her in case she had a seizure.

"If Anna had ever had a seizure whilst in the bath when she was alone she could drowned or scalded herself. Having a shower is less of a risk."