JOANNE QUINNELL

Joanne Quinnell, 46, married mum of six children

“I always lived an active life. I left home, aged 17, and trained to become a sailing instructor. I travelled around Europe and was an au pair in Denmark. After meeting my husband at a judo club in 1999, we had our first child. Life was hard but I loved being a stay-at-home mum. We’d go walking most Sundays looking for the Gruffalo and when the children got older, I took them camping.

“After the birth of my last child in 2010, my illness came upon me like a sledgehammer. I had muscle pain spasms. I was unable to walk to my children’s school five minutes away as I was breathless. Then I developed vertigo, central sleep apnoea, cluster headaches and bladder problems. I was confined to a wheelchair and put on heavy painkillers for five years, leaving me like a zombie.

“I felt like a failure. It took seven years to receive a diagnosis as no one puts the pieces together for you. The umbrella term for what I have is called functional neurological disorder. I need a non-invasive ventilator to do any physical activity.

“The poem I wrote described how I first felt about myself when I got sick because my life completely changed and I no longer recognised myself. I didn’t know how to be a wife, a mother or even myself. Writing poetry was one way of releasing those feelings. “I am now on medicinal cannabis drugs, and with the help of a gym instructor, have learned to use a hand bike and completed Superhero Triathlon, a disability sporting event.”