Tourettes TikTok star from Wearside ready to 'spread awareness of condition further' as a huge month beckons

Book signings in London and Newcastle beckon for Evie Field, 21, from Durham, whose first publication called My Nonidentical Twin will be released on October 28.

She has already appeared on CBBC and other media channels to tell her story.

Evie admitted it was ‘nerve racking’ to face publicity but she added: “I get really excited because it is another opportunity to raise awareness. I just want to keep spreading awareness about Tourettes and I want to dispel the stereotypes with it.”

In the meantime, the public following for Evie is continuing to grow. She shares her experiences of a daily struggle with tics and seizures from Functional Neurological Disorder on social media under the names of This Trippy Hippie and Evie Meg. She now has 13.9 million followers on Tik Tok, 790,000 on Instagram and 624,000 on You Tube.

Fans have also started clubs in tribute to Evie and her fan base is huge in countries such as the USA.

She will be signing copies of her book at Waterstones in Newcastle on Wednesday, October 27 and London Piccadilly on Friday, October 29.

She looked back on an amazing year in which her social media posts, which she first started to do for fun in 2016, took off.

At one point, her Tik Tok following grew by one million fans in just two days.

"It was insane. It was a place to vent and I quite liked that but it has blown up in the last year,” said Evie whose mission is to ‘destroy the stigma’ which surrounds the syndrome.

Her new book tells of Evie’s daily struggle with tics and seizures which are debilitating and often dangerous. They leave her dizzy, sweating and often bruised.

On her social media posts, fans have seen her repeatedly punch herself. She sometimes swears, or makes sounds she can't control.

Another severe tic episode left her struggling for breath and she admitted on video: "I think I'm going to pass out."

Evie, from Durham, was a top gymnast in 2011 when she became a British champion. She broke her arm that same year but fought back to be the best in Britain again in 2012.

Just as she got back on track, Evie badly dislocated her elbow and her gymnastics career was over.

Worse was to follow and by the time Evie was 15, she began to suffer mental health issues while she was still at secondary school.

Her tics also started although they appeared to be an unremitting form of hiccup for years.

In 2016, she had her first seizure. Within two years, they were so bad Evie became wheelchair bound. She was paralysed for six weeks but fought back and used social media to tell her story.

Now comes her book which raises awareness to a new audience and not just about Tourettes.

There are also references to Evie’s mental health battle and she said: “I hope people know they don’t have to be alone in their struggles.”

The book is £14.99 for hard back and available to pre-order on Amazon, the Waterstones website, the WH Smith website, bookshop.org, Booktopia and Barns and Noble.

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