Cornish woman left unable to eat hopes to find a cure
Ann-Marie's condition has been left undiagnosed for ten years.
A woman from Cornwall has been left unable to eat following a mystery illness that has been left undiagnosed by doctors for over ten years.
Ann-Marie Williams, who is 39-years-old and is back living with her parents in St Just, believes she became unwell after a girls holiday in Turkey around a decade ago.
It was from this point, that here condition started to deteriorate.
“A couple of days later when I came home, I felt really nauseous and just general flu-type symptoms which I thought was maybe a bit of a dodgy belly after the holiday however, it went away after a couple of days.
“Then two weeks later, I started getting upper abdominal pain, my appetite was changing and I just didn't feel right so I went to the doctor and they couldn't really figure out what was going on and I started losing a lot of weight, started feeling even more sick, nauseous, dizzy, and that's when it all started going really wrong. I started to lose a lot of weight; I lost my appetite. I kept having tests, but the doctors didn't know what was going on”
Ann-Marie Williams
As the years have past, she now remains housebound and is fed intravenously by a machine that she is hooked up to for 15 hours a day.
Having had many tests and operations, including one to remove her Gallbladder, she is trying to raise enough money to seek private medical help in order to find the answers which will hopefully lead to a cure.
Left with very little hope for her future, Ann-Marie is still determined to try and get her life back.
"If I could easily manage my condition little bit better, it would make it so much easier and I may be able to go out a little bit more. It’s just having those little moments where you can just relax and enjoy other people’s company"
Ann-Marie Williams
She says she has been seeing a private doctor who specialises in functional medicine. They believe that she has a bacterial overgrowth caused by the bug she caught 10 years ago.
Because it's been in the gut for so long they believe it has caused substantial damage to her body.
“The impact of this illness is massive. I'm in bed all day, most days. It's basically like having a chronic illness. It's like the person that you knew has gone. You're in grief. Mentally it's exhausting and it's very lonely.”
Ann-Marie Williams
In a post on her gofundme page, it says:
“When you become chronically ill, so much changes in your life. You start to mourn your previous life. It’s almost like a bereavement, except you haven't died.
“You lack the energy and the personality changes into someone you don't know anymore. The effect of chronic illness and mental health go hand in hand.
“The days of shopping for lovely clothes is spent on PJs and hot water bottles. Or on things that make you as comfortable as possible.
“You lose social interaction and friends start to slowly disappear as you can't go out or do things you used to do.
“Many people like myself turn to social media and find thousands of other people in the same situations so you start to have virtual friends. People whom you have never met, yet you feel like you can relate to them. You make friends on hospital visits, I've made quite a few friends this way in hospital. People with the same conditions having the same treatments.
“I miss not being able to choose what I want to do or make plans. I never know how I am on a daily basis.
“I think Covid lockdown opened some eyes for people being stuck at home. This is what life is always like for me and hundreds of others dealing with disabilities and long term illness every day. Not just during Covid.
“For now I have to take care of myself and hope that one day my body will want to work with me.”
GoFundMe Page post by Ann-Marie Williams
If you would like to donate towards Ann-Marie's goal to find a cure, visit her gofundme page here.