xmas wishes to the Gilderdale family

"It was one of Lynn's greatest wishes to help ME awareness, that her work to help ME awareness continued after her death so others would not have to go through the same suffering.”

A statement from Lynn's family says:
"Lynn was young, beautiful, loving and caring.
"At the age of 14 years she was struck down by M.E. - an illness greatly misunderstood - and as a result, suffered the stigma attached to this dreadful illness.
"She fought long and hard for 17 years with immense bravery, enduring constant pain and sickness.
"Every system of her body was affected. She required 24 hour care that was provided by her totally dedicated mother, with continuous support from Lynn's father.
"Lynn suffered many hospital admissions, sometimes lasting several months, for life threatening conditions.
"Prior to her illness, which left her paralysed, unable to speak, eat or drink and until recently, no memory, she was an active healthy teenager full of life's dreams. She grew up in the Stonegate area, attending local schools and participating fully in her local community.
"She enjoyed sailing, swimming, cycling and was an accomplished musician.
"Her family praise and admire Lynn for her courage, which she showed to the end.
"She was a much-loved daughter, sister and granddaughter who despite her illness always gave love and support to others.
"In life Lynn strove to help the medical profession improve their insight into M.E. which affects thousands of people, in varying degrees of severity.
"Her dedicated mother, supported by Lynn's family, has pledged to achieve her ultimate goal - for better understanding and recognition of this life destroying illness.
"Lynn's family say her death will leave a massive void in their lives - and the love she gave so unreservedly, will be missed every minute of the day."

I can only imagine how the family must feel at this time which should be the happiest day of the year for most people. Having lost my father this year, I can sympathise how sad it is to have that empty place at the table but I feel sure her spirit will be with them. It will not be the best xmas they've had but I hope they can make the best of it in Lynn's memory. We should all be thankful for every member of our families and enjoy what time we can get together. Happy xmas to everyone and best wishes for the incoming New Year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3692639/I-had-three-years-of-nothingness-of-hell.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1093325/ESTHER-RANTZEN-I-weep-devoted-mother-For-I-watched-daughter-endure-living-death-ME.html
http://www.measussex.org.uk/Latest-News/lynn-gilderdale-december.html


It's quite scary how often a case like Lynn Gilderdale's has happened. It's not as rare as you might think. Her mother Kay has been described as a saint and was devoted to her daughter. Lynn herself in spite of being so ill had been an avid campaigner for ME awareness and we cannot let all that hard work go unrewarded. Whatever the circumstances of her death, we must not forget that Lynn truly "lived" her life as much as was possible considering and we must respect everything she and her family contributed to the ME world. I hope the issue of her ME does not become obscured by the euthanasia debate. Whilst there is a strong possibility that this was not a natural death, the far more important issue is an increased understanding of this complicated debilitating disease and what we can do to improve the support services to prevent others from suffering so badly for so long. Thankfully in recent years a diagnosis is likely to come much earlier than it did for someone like Lynn and with an early diagnosis hopefully comes early treatment but we need to keep Lynn in the back of our minds and learn lessons from her experience in order to improve the lives of all ME sufferers.

I am a member of the Kent and Sussex ME Society as were the Gilderdales. As fellow sufferers we all felt very strongly about the need to make our feelings heard about the injustice of this case. The press are guilty of lessening the severity of Lynn's condition by referring to ME as "a flu-like illness", "yuppie flu" and other terms which do not even begin to describe the true reality of the life-destroying effects of this illness. Many of our members constantly struggle as Lynn did to simply get through another day and our hearts go out to Lynn's family. We understand better than most how hard it must have been to see their precious daughter wasting away day after day and how hard it must have been for Lynn herself to come to that decision that she simply couldn't go on. I hope by making this blog available, we can let the government know how important it is to start funding some serious research and to improve the system for people like Lynn who are in such a desperate situation and believe me there are far more than you think!!!! The NHS needs to start doing more research into therapies for ME other than the tried and trusted therapies they rely on which clearly have value for other illnesses but do not necessarily work for ME. ME is a very complicated illness which has a broad spectrum of symptoms and it is highly unlikely to find any one therapy that will "cure" all of the problems. We need more funding for research into the causes and potential "cures" for this debilitating illness and we need to raise public awareness of how devastating this illness can be.

Support the Gilderdale family

Arrest over ME campaigner's death

The mother of a prominent ME sufferer and campaigner has been arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of her severely ill daughter.

Kay Gilderdale, 54, was questioned and released on police bail after the death of Lynn Gilderdale, 31, on Thursday. Sussex Police were called to Ms Gilderdale's home in Stonegate, East Sussex, at about 0830 GMT. Ms Gilderdale had been campaigning for a better understanding of ME, which she contracted about 17 years ago. Her family, who issued a statement through Sussex Police, said: "Lynn was young, beautiful, loving and caring.

"At the age of 14 years she was struck down by ME - an illness greatly misunderstood - and, as a result, suffered the stigma attached to this dreadful illness. She fought long and hard for 17 years with immense bravery, enduring constant pain and sickness. Every system of her body was affected."

Ms Gilderdale required 24-hour care, but still had time for others, her family said."She was a much-loved daughter, sister and granddaughter who, despite her illness, always gave love and support to others," they continued. "In life Lynn strove to help the medical profession improve their insight into ME, which affects thousands of people in varying degrees of severity."

TB vaccination
Rother district commander Ch Insp Heather Keating said: "This is a very tragic incident, but we are not looking for anyone else in connection with it." Mrs Gilderdale has been bailed until 6 March, 2009. Her daughter fell ill after receiving a vaccination for TB when she was 14-years-old. She then went on to have bronchitis, tonsillitis and glandular fever, before being diagnosed with ME. The condition, which is also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, often left her unable to get out of bed. The ME Association estimates that 250,000 people are affected by the condition in the UK.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/sussex/7771047.stm