A LIFE WITHOUT ENERGY

One day, when I was 12 years old and thumbing through the newly released Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I heard a distressing moan coming from my mum’s room. Entering slowly, I found her writhing on the bed as her limbs shook uncontrollably and she tried to fix her frightened eyes on me. That day, back in 2005, was the first time my mum, Liane, then 45, found herself caught in the vicious throes of what was later diagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) – also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Initial blood tests failed to reveal why Mum had suddenly become so sick and completely devoid of energy. After six months – having ruled out everything from glandular fever and thyroid problems to Lyme disease and multiple sclerosis – her baffled GP diagnosed her with ME/CFS and later referred her to a musculoskeletal and autoimmune specialist.

In the years that followed, I watched as the unstoppable force that was the mum I’d grown up with became relegated to bed for hours, days, weeks on end. My early teens were spent tiptoeing around our house while she rested. She