ME

Last Friday was ME Awareness Day. ME being myalgic encephalomyelitis.

One of my former flatmates had ME, and it was a great learning experience for me about how it can affect your life. He had been Dux of his school, top scholar at law school, worked for a top law firm (Russell McVeagh) but as he got afflicted he had to keep reducing his hours. He always carried on working more than he should have, when led to the condition getting worse. Finally he had to leave law all together when he couldn’t work for more than a couple of hours a day. Within days he was volunteering at a local school to help kids with remedial reading etc. as he wouldn’t accept just sitting at home doing nothing.

Because the causes of ME is unknown, some people think oh it is all just in the mind – they’re just depressed. Trust me this is so not the case for most sufferers.

People may want to check out the Associated New Zealand ME Society website for more info.