Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I have lived with M.E/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for so many years it is hard to remember a day when I felt "normal".  I lived a healthy life before, enjoying challenges such as the London to Southend cycle ride, and even became a trampoline coach.  Then one day it stopped.  I stopped.  I no longer had the energy to get up off the sofa.  I no longer felt I could do anything.  Tired, exhausted, but no one could see how agonising it was, they could not see the pain inside, they could not appreciate how tiresome every day had become.  I lost confidence, I lost strength, and the only thing I had to keep focussing on was my family.  They have been so supportive, especially my husband, who was constantly scouring the internet for mobility scooters, electronic bikes, anything to get me more mobile again.  My poor cousins who are sufferers of this wretched illness too, we are the "three-ME-girls!" have been there on those days when you just want to give up.  Those chats with people who fully understand what it feels like, are the breakthrough in building a stronger mindset.

It was years before I got diagnosed, it was years before I accepted the diagnosis.  The CBT, the pacing. was all too much to try and cope with, far too complicated trying to write down every movement, I was exhausted just thinking about it!  So unconventionally I decided to fight back alone. 

Now, many years on, I am not cured, I am not symptom free.  I still wake up every morning in pain, muscles aching, "screaming" sometimes, body and mind feeling exhausted, but I try and rise above it.  I now work full time, as a Learning and Development Manager for Sainsbury's, who have really supported me in my career.  I feel more alive, I feel stronger, and now want to give something back to Action For Me, to help other sufferers who might need their help and guidance.

I now try and live each day with courage and compassion, I strive to become a better version of myself each day, and hopefully inspire others to do the same along the way.  Don't let the illness become YOU, you ARE still inside, you WILL be free again, you will FIGHT back. Never lose hope.

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