Deborah Jenkins has promised to shut up. Not to say a word – not even ‘boo’ to a goose – for 24 hours. That’s a whole day spent being completely out of character.
“No one believes I can do it”, says Deborah as she contemplates not saying anything at all during a sponsored 24-hour silence on World ME Day to raise money for the ME Association.
“My daughter Rosie says, ‘But you talk to yourself all the time, mum. How are you going to do it?”
Deborah, diagnosed with ME/CFS just over four years ago, protested: “It’s true, I do talk to myself out loud, often…I'm good company, what can I say?
“It WILL be a challenge. That's exactly why I'm doing it.”
As all the busy-ness of World ME Day on 12th May hurtles towards us, Deborah talked about being healthier than she was, the joy of forest bathing and gently working on her recovery. And how she’s just come through a flare-up of her symptoms.
“As part of my recovery, I have been getting more in touch with my emotions. This week I was able to go into the woodland behind my house to sit and be.
“I was sitting on a log, enjoying the bluebells, the wood anenome and celandine, feeling the sunshine on my face, totally in awe of how beautiful this one short life we have on this planet is and I started to cry; tears of beauty, of joy, then came grief, all mixed into one big blubbery mess of tears.
“I sat there and simply felt it, let it flow through me. Then surprisingly, came anger, something I would not have been able to feel, or acknowledge previously.
“I was angry that I have this awful and debilitating condition, I was angry that I had to go through embarrassing and shaming doctors appointments before finding a kindly GP who referred me to the ME/CFS clinic on my hunch that maybe, maybe this was ME/CFS?
In these photos, Deborah is pictured pre-ME/CFS with husband Mark and daughters Abbie (middle) and Rosie (right).
“I am angry that so many people suffer this way and have much worse experiences than I do. I was angry that I had ignored my body for so long and pushed myself so hard, I was angry that I didn't know how to listen to my body, I couldn't connect with it, angry about childhood experiences that had contributed to this, and angry that I have this condition and not enough has been done about finding a cause, or cure.”
Now utterly determined to see this challenge through to the end, Deborah added:
“That’s what I am really good at now – sitting, laying down, just being. I meditate a lot. I sit still and in silence, a lot. Then I remembered a childhood event held at my primary school… a sponsored silence. Now this is something I can do.”
Help Deborah keep her nose to the wheel and her mouth shut by not provoking her on the day. Better still, put a couple of quid on her fundraising page. That would make her really happy.
Please donate below:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/24-hour-sponsored-silence-for-me-cfs
Thank you so much.
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Consultant, The ME Association
tony.britton@meassociation.org.uk Mob: 07393 805566
