Young leader aims to help others
Leah Baken used to spend her days tired, in bed, in pain and unable to move.
But now she is on the road to recovery and plans to help others along the way.
The 24-year-old from Palmerston North has myalgic encephalomyelitis, known as chronic fatigue syndrome, which is thought to be an autoimmune disease.
Her illness started when she was a toddler.
‘‘I had glandular fever at the age of 3 years old and that’s a common trigger for it. I was an active child, but I was also quite tired.’’
She was home-schooled up to the age of 14.
She said the combination of stress and puberty crashed her system and she became ‘‘very, very unwell’’.
There were days during her teenage years when she was bedbound and had trouble eating. Despite her fluctuating health, she managed to finish school via correspondence.
Baken said she was at her worst about the age of 20.
‘‘At that point I was housebound and basically bed-bound – so pain and insomnia and all sorts of memory loss.’’
She had intense pain, nausea, had trouble eating and talking, and wouldn’t go out of the house or see anyone for months.
The syndrome was ‘‘very restrictive and very kind of hopeless’’.
Baken said she was ‘‘healed’’ by God just before her 21st birthday and her health gradually began to improve.
‘‘I was prayed for and then I started improving at that point.’’
Today, she works at Just Zilch – the city’s food charity – for about six hours a week. She also helps run a support group for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis.
She said the syndrome was widely misunderstood and some people mistook it for a psychological illness.
‘‘It’s a multisystem autoimmune disease – well, thought to be – which is incredibly debilitating,’’ she said.
There were few avenues of support for people with the syndrome, so it was important to have a support group, she said.
Baken was recently selected for the Future Leaders training scheme.
Baken was one of 18 young people selected in the North Island, including four from Palmerston North. The programme is designed to build on their leadership and entrepreneurial skills.