Helping raise awareness (From Penarth Times)

Helping raise awareness

A DINAS Powys girl suffering with ME is helping to promote the illness's awareness week.

Michelle Penny, 17, has had the illness since she was just 11, so she knows the devastating effect it can have on people.

ME (Myalgic Encephalo-myelitis) is a debilitating illness which, among other things, saps the energy, leaving sufferers feeling completely exhausted.

Greenfield Avenue resident Michelle, who attended Bishop of Llandaff School before getting ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), is now promoting ME Awareness Week with her mum Sylvia to educate people about it.

She said: "We've put posters in the petrol station, in the health centre and other places locally. We've sent posters off to local universities and student unions.

"It will help people with ME as people will know what it is. They won't think you are being lazy. People don't say I'm being lazy to my face, but I know people think it."

Her mum said: "Michelle gets looks of disbelief from people who say that she looks very well one day, when actually she is unwell. I live with her, so I know her good days and bad days.

"I see what it does to her when I try and take her out a little bit. Things normal teenagers do, Michelle can't. I see how much it devastates her."

When she is well enough, Michelle acts as a regional young person's co-ordinator for the Association of Young People with ME (AYME) in Cardiff. Sylvia is a parent co-ordinator. Work involves e-mailing other youngsters with ME, giving them information and talking to them.

For more information on ME, contact AYME on 01908 373300, visit www.ayme.org.uk or contact the Welsh Association of ME and CFS Support (WAMES) on 01554 771308 or visit www.wames.org.uk