Care worker Katy Anns, from Stonehouse, never used to speak about what she was going through with Tourette’s syndrome – not even to her mother.

And as a child she would hide her tics with a flick of her hair or by pretending she had a cold.

But when her mum and best friend paid for Katy to have a tattoo for her 22nd birthday in March everything changed. Reporter Megan Titley spoke to her to find out why.

KATY sat in the tattoo parlour in Gloucester trying to keep as still as possible while the artist did his best to ink the butterfly image onto her wrist despite her involuntary neck tic.

Her mum, Bridget Anns and her best friend, Zoe Griffin had paid for her to have it done as she had always wanted a tattoo and what could be better than an image which represented the condition she had struggled with since she was seven.

“Yes I’ve just got myself my first tattoo,” Katy wrote in a Facebook post afterwards.

Stroud News and Journal:

“Some people will know what this is for but for those of you who don't it’s for Tourette's syndrome awareness.

“Yes I have Tourettes, I have done ever since the age of seven but since last year it's been so uncontrollable I can't hide it anymore.

“I want to share this with you because I have got to keep my head up high and be more confident about it.

“Without my friends and family and my boyfriend I wouldn't have been able to get through this.”

The online post was a significant turning-point for Katy as it heralded her acceptance of the condition.

"I've had to accept it, it’s part of me, and I can't go out without people seeing me the way I am," she says.

Speaking to the SNJ she adds: "A lot of people are ignorant, staring, I don't mind people asking what’s wrong with me but there's a way of asking.

“Some people are very rude, we all stare if someone's different but sometimes I just can't deal with it, I just want to hide away."

Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition affecting the brain and nervous system characterised by a combination of involuntary noises and movements called tics.

Bridget, who has worked as a production operator for Sartorius Stedim for 20 years, says: "Up until a few months ago she wouldn't even talk about it.

“Because she used to be able to control it to a certain degree, she used to be able to hide it.

“If her neck was jerking she used to make out that she was flicking her hair out of the way and if she was sniffing she would pretend to have a cold.

"I was just gobsmacked, when I came home from work one day and she'd put it on Facebook so that everybody would know that she had Tourettes.”

Since then she discovered the support and research charity Tourettes Action and is busy planning a fundraising ball for the organisation which works to improve the lives of people with the syndrome. By hosting the ball she also hopes to raise awareness about Tourettes among her friendship group.

Katy has also found others who have the condition in the area, some of whom she hopes to meet up with to talk about their shared experiences.

The event, with live singers, a disco and auction, will take place at The Orchard Marquee in The Whitminster Inn on Saturday, September 17 from 7.30pm - 12pm.

It promises raffle prizes including a photoshoot worth £245 and a car service worth £150.

According to the charity, Tourette’s syndrome is more common than most people realise, affecting around one in every 100 people.

Symptoms usually begin at around seven years of age and become most pronounced at 10–11 years.

“It all began in 2001 with the year my dad left, I can't remember how it exactly started but at first my mum and thought it was a habit,” says Katy, who works in the dementia unit at Horsfall House, a residential care home in Minchinhampton.

“I was just a seven-year-old and I knew I was different.

“I’ve had a lot of tics throughout my 14 years with living with Tourettes from facial tics, blinking, jerking the head, teeth grinding, twitching the nose, neck twitches, throwing my neck back which makes my neck in so much pain and gives me headaches.”

The cause of Tourette’s syndrome is unknown and there is no cure but treatment can help to control the symptoms.

Katy recently had four injections of Botox, two in her neck and another two in her shoulders.

"I think it freezes the muscles,” she says, “Its helped with the pain anyway and that's the most important thing - the pain in the back of my head was just thumping all the time."

Most people diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome have a combination of physical and vocal tics, which can involve grunting, coughing or shouting out words and jerking the head or jumping up and down.

“The thing is people think that Tourettes is shouting and swearing, they don't realise that the majority of it is tics,” said Katy.

Although it is not true for Katy, in many cases Tourette's syndrome runs in families and it's often associated with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Tickets for the fundraiser are selling like hot cakes and cost £15 each. Call Katy on 07958104704 or email her at katy.anns@icloud.com to book.