I was diagnosed with M.E/CFS 4 years ago. I have had to sit and listen to doctors telling me there is nothing wrong with me, its all in my head, and it would all go away if I exercise more. Like many others all I want is to understand how or why I got this illness and to find a way to treat it.

I had an active life, studying in my final year for a degree in health and social care with the prospect of studying a masters in social work. I worked 2 jobs, as a P.A to disabled students living independently at University, and a palliative carer in the evenings. I am a mother with 3 grown up Children, and was looking forward to a bright future.

M.E/CFS started gradually over time, I started to feel tired, all the time, I would get pains in my hands, feet, legs and arms, It hurt to get out of bed most days. It would take me weeks to get over a simple cough, I had a chest infection that lasted for about 3 months, a cold would take weeks to get rid of.

As time passed it got harder to ignore, I became a danger to my clients as well as to myself, so I had to give up my job which I loved, then came the day I was sat in a lecture and I couldn't remember what I was doing there. I felt like my life had ended there and then.

I become house bound and a lot of the time bed bound, as every movement was creating more pain than I could cope with, so it was easier to just stay in bed than struggle to move. When I did manage to get out, it was only for about 10 mins before I was in tears and wanted to go back home due to pain.

I want to be an active member of the M.E community, to help raise awareness and to speak out about how it really affects daily life. To advocate for people like me who are limited to being house bound or bed bound due to lack of information out there, to speak out to medical staff when they say GET (graded exercise therapy) works or CBT (cognitve behaviour therapy) is the answer, these are barbaric therapies that have been proved along with PACE to show they do not work.

Most people are pushed aside by medical staff as they don't understand the disease, they are told to either do the therapies or stay at home. We don't expect to be treated this way, especially as we don't understand why it is happening to us.

I have spent my life helping people in any way I can, and now I find myself at the mercy of other people and needing helping hand. I have tried all the normal ways to get help, but due to lack of knowledge, understanding and even care, I now plead with people to help me.

The money raised will be put towards a powered wheelchair, so that I can get out and use my voice to be heard for myself as well as for the millions of others who are house/bed bound. The NHS doctors say that because I can't (not won't) follow their GET, CBT and PACE ruling then I myself am causing the problem so will need to pay for the chair myself. Without the chair I will not get my Independence back, I can't become and active member of society, and I can't get my voice heard, I simply become one of the millions missing with this disease. Help me to not only find my Independence but also my voice, to raise awareness for M.E/CFS and be part of society again.