10:35am Thursday 3rd May 2007
By David Jeffels
The love and care of her parents has played a big part in a young Ryedale woman's fight back to health after being stricken by the debilitating condition ME.
Twenty-four-year-old Bryony Wild had been a support worker for adults with learning difficulties until she began to feel unwell four years ago. She told her story to the Gazette & Herald this week to coincide with ME Awareness Week which starts on Monday - and to say a huge 'thank you' to her parents Glyn and Josie, and younger brother Alex for all their support.
Bryony, of Peasey Hill Road, Malton, had a promising career after leaving Lady Lumley's School and reading English and history at the University of Sheffield. She went on to teach English as a foreign language but then her health problems began.
Initially she and her doctors were baffled by her condition which is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
In the early days when it was diagnosed in the 1980's it was cruelly labelled "yuppie-flu" says Bryony. It can take up to five years for a sufferer to recover and return to a normal life she added. "I am gradually improving but it has been long and slow. I was living on rice cakes and peanut butter and for a long time I couldn't leave the house. I wasn't able to sit up for five months or even hold a telephone" she added.
She had been living on her own in Sheffield but had to return home to her family. "At my worst I was bedbound in the early stages and barely able to even speak to my parents to listen to a conversation or music or do simple things such as brushing my teeth."
But her parents gave her round-the-clock support. "The lengths they have gone to help me since I was forced to return to the family home when my illness became too severe for me to live independently two years ago, has far exceeded the line of 'normal' parental responsibility.
"Despite my limitations they went to huge lengths to keep me connected with the outside world and to keep my spirits boosted."
Bryony added: "Thanks to their help I am now finally on the slow path towards recovery.
" My mother has been her full time carer for the past two years. It's amazing what she and my dad have done. I still rely heavily on them."
And they provided humorous moments such as dad making a real snowman and taking it to her bedroom for her to enjoy until it melted. And on another occasion they gathered up a tarpaulin full of autumn leaves which Bryony was able to crunch and roll around in.
Today she is now making steps towards recovery and has even been able to help out at the Malton Hospital charity shop in the town centre. "I'm only able to do an hour a week but it's a start" said Bryony.
Mum Josie said: "It has been demanding being a carer because you don't expect to have to look after a grown-up child who had been living independently for five years but it's all been worth while.
"Bryony is making progress. We don't know how long it will be before she is fully recovered. It won't be quick but she is gradually getting there."
For more information on this debilitating condition and to find out about ME Awareness Week, visit the Action for ME website at www.afme.org.uk
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