My beautiful daughter Yasmin 30 years of age has suffered ME/CFS for almost 4 years now and as her mother it’s truly heartbreaking to see how much it has affected her quality of life over this period of time.
A girl who was once so energetic and full of adventure to sadly now housebound and virtually a prisoner in her home, most days unable to surface due to dizziness, nerve pain and extreme fatigue. Sensitivity to light and sound to the point of having to wear sunglasses and ear plugs daily. We do not know what brought it on, only that she suffered a few throat infections beforehand. We do not know if it was linked to having the Covid vaccination 8 weeks prior to her symptoms starting or that I myself suffered with the condition too when I was in my forties may have possibly been a contributing factor?
On a positive note though over time thankfully I did recover from it which fills me with the hope that one day Yasmin will too! However, even now after 15 years I do experience occasional crashes of extreme fatigue and brain fog and find the need to completely shut myself off for a day or two just to regain my energy levels.
One of the saddest and most frustrating things is that many people do not take this condition seriously including many GP’s and other health professionals and many of us are made to look like liars and time wasters, basically just shrugged off and forgotten about. Even friends and family often find it difficult to understand and some in our experience won’t even try to.
It is a very cruel sad and isolated condition and needs much more research and awareness.
In our experience there is very little help or support out there for people with ME/CFS. We have yet to find any support group in our area or surrounding areas. It is very sad.
We are both thankful for the smile for ME page and the gifts for carers and sufferers is such a beautiful and uplifting thing to do.
It was a lovely surprise to find Yasmin had nominated me and I absolutely loved the thoughtful gifts and all so beautiful wrapped too!
It really made my day coming home to a box full of the most thoughtful surprises. Both Yasmin and myself one day would love to do some fundraising events ourselves to raise awareness which we were hoping to do earlier this year but unfortunately unable to because of worsening symptoms and more care needed but hopefully one day soon we will and we will shout it out from the rooftops!
Just want to say that Yasmin is a true warrior! I am so proud of her for fighting this seemingly never ending battle and throughout it all has managed to keep her sense of humour!
You are amazing!
You are all amazing! And not alone!