M.E Awareness Day 2012

Today is M.E Awareness Day! As M.E Awareness Week draws to a close I wanted to do one last post to try and get my message out there. I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have liked (due to my health) but I want to thank every single person who is following the blog, who has read my article and shared my poem, and who has been retweeting my messages on Twitter :) you guys are awesome!

For those of you that don't know my M.E story I'll share a brief history of it now. I became ill in 2005, just after starting year 10, when I came down with glandular fever. I was off school from September until January, when I finally managed to go back part time. It was obvious I wasn't right, though. I would come home exhausted and struggle through my lessons, and although I'd improved I seemed to be stalling. I also kept coming down with bugs that would knock me back. I was referred to the hospital and eventually diagnosed with M.E in around May 2006. I missed all of year 11 after becoming too ill to even attend school, and was home tutored throughout this period. I spent months unable to leave the house. In 2007 I started 6th form, a huge milestone for me after a year out of school, just doing the one subject. I'd managed to gain 5 GCSEs with the help of my home tutor, and by taking my exams either at home or in isolation at school so I could have rest breaks. 6th form went well until Easter 2008 when I suffered a huge relapse.

This was one of the darkest times of my illness. I became completely confined to bed and ended up so weak I couldn't walk unaided. I was struck by light sensitivity, something I'd experienced at the beginning of my illness, which meant I spent all day with the curtains drawn shut. I suffered pain in my muscles and joints that was agonising, and it would be over a year before I left my house again, and even then it was a small trip out into my garden.


I'm in a fairly "good" period now, in that I can walk for short distances and leave my house, and I'm able to see friends and do volunteer work. But I still have a long way to go. There is no cure for M.E, and still so little research happening that it may be a very long time before we see anything like that, but I have to remain positive and hopeful that I will recover. I'd go insane otherwise!


M.E Awareness Week is a chance to wake the world up to the reality of living with this extremely debilitating illness, but it's hard work. The media and general public are so oblivious to our suffering that it is left to the sufferers and charities to get the word out there. The people out there raising awareness are doing so whilst battling crippling fatigue, headaches, nausea, cognitive problems, muscle and joint pain, dizziness, sore throats - the list goes on. YOU can help us, by raising awareness. If you hadn't heard of M.E before this week then please share your new found knowledge with somebody else. Look into the work of M.E charities and make a donation - anything you can spare. Display your awareness ribbon with pride!


http://www.ayme.org.uk/
http://www.actionforme.org.uk/
http://www.meassociation.org.uk/
http://www.investinme.org/




Well done to everyone involved in this year's efforts, you've been amazing! And raising awareness of M.E isn't just something I do in MEAW. I try and do it all year round, so keep an eye on my blog for more posts throughout the year :)


Until next time,


Sarah x