A TULLIBODY woman is putting her efforts into giving Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) a voice by raising awareness of the illness, addressing its stigmas and encouraging support.

After years of struggling with ill-health and day-to-day living, Rochelle Hanslow was finally diagnosed with ME and Fibromyalgia at the beginning of 2013.

But rather than let the diagnosis consume her, the 27-year-old has become an ambassador for ME Research UK and started documenting her journey online as ‘Haggard Hanslow’.

She said: “After struggling to cope with accepting this illness and what my life and my husband’s life had now become, I decided to try and make the most of my time. I’ve lost a lot due to this illness but I haven’t lost my voice and that’s what I felt this illness needed; a voice.

“My aims are to give a true and realistic representation of this illness, stub out the stigmas associated with it, spread awareness and hopefully raise funds for charity.” ME is characterised by a range of neurological symptoms and signs, muscle pain with intense physical or mental exhaustion, relapses and also specific cognitive disabilities.

The aim of ME Research UK is to energise research into the condition by commissioning and funding scientific research into the cause, consequences and treatments.

For Rochelle, the illness means she is house-bound seven days a week, she can only go out with company, and is bed-bound during at least three of those days.

It has an impact on her memory, she suffers from severe fatigue, chronic pain, numbness, headaches, nausea, insomnia, swelling of the body and also experiences sensitivity to light and smell.

She explained: “In a nutshell, think about having severe flu, with a hangover and then running a marathon, that’s how ME feels. To top it off I also suffer, like many with these illnesses, with costochondritis, which is a swelling of the chest wall and can make you feel like you’ve broken ribs at times.” Despite all this, she has signed up to do the annual Walk for ME event on Monday 11 May as part of International ME Awareness Week.

Taking part will be a huge challenge and she hopes to raise some much needed funds.

Rochelle said: “The event has been a huge success since its start in 2013 and it asks family and friends of people with ME to walk, swim, run and jog however far they choose to raise awareness and money.

“Along with my husband Dan and our Labrador Vader, I will be walking from the carpark to the entrance of Wallace Monument and then attempting to walk round the ‘blue trail’ of Abbey Craig.” To find out more about Rochelle’s work with the charity visit: http://www.haggardhanslow.me.uk facebook.com/haggardhanslow twitter.com/haggardhanslow