"Now I have hope for my ME"

For a very long time I had symptoms of total exhaustion. I knew it was over and beyond normal tiredness but I would have bloods taken and nothing showing. This went on for quite some time. It came to a point though when I could not hold a fork and knife to feed myself. Pushing myself would send my body into shock with symptoms of shaking, cold sweating and such weakness that I could not pull myself up from the ground.

I had to leave a job as a secondary school teacher, a career that I really and truly enjoyed. I am a mother of 4 children and it has been the greatest demand on us all as a family. For a long time we were left to it by ourselves but I got referred to the ME Specialist Nurse - Keith Anderson.

This service has been a lifeline for us and helped keep us afloat when things were too hard to bare. I got calm advice, I was able to speak to Keith about situations he had seem many times before and he would advise on what steps to take or what may be around the corner.

This was new terrItory to me as I was the first in my family or circle of friends who had this illness - I felt in no man's land without a map but with my Specialist Nurse, I had hope.

I can not express enough my gratitude for having this service in place for me but also for the positive impact it subsequently had on my family.