Melbourne Herald Sun
ME sufferer prays for a cure while trapped in own home for 20 years
June 5, 2014
Malvern East resident Jenny Meagher has endured extreme Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) for twenty years.
FOR two decades Jenny Meagher has been trapped in her own home, unable to even concentrate on television, hoping research will give her the breakthrough she needs to return to life.
While she rejects the term, Ms Meagher has been held captive by what most people call chronic fatigue syndrome, but which she prefers to label as myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Whatever it is called, the 50-year-old Malvern mother’s life has been largely placed on hold since she first suffered a virus 20 years ago which opened the door for the condition to take hold.
“It means I am basically housebound except for doctors’ appointments,” Ms Meagher said.
“It’s like waking up every day of your life with severe flu: that feeling that you have been knocked over by a bus, with woozy, aching headaches and nausea.
“Because it is a neurological disease, it involves inflammation of the brain, which means it affects every single system of the body.
“This house has to be silent, I just can’t tolerate noise. I can’t tolerate concentrating for very long, so can’t even watch TV, and it's the same with social interaction.”
With her 15-year-old daughter now one of the other 180,000 Australians suffering from the condition, Ms Meagher is desperate to see some of the recently announced $20 billion federal government research fund directed towards the condition.
University of New South Wales Professor Andrew Lloyd is also keen for greater research into the condition, which has no set diagnostic test but is classified as a prolonged disabling fatigue for more than six months, which is above being tired and cannot be eased by rest...
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