For years, Rachel Brown, 46, from Litchfield, suffered from a mystery illness…
My family is worth it all
Walking into the girls’ bathroom, I was met with the shy giggles of my classmates. As they discreetly passed something between them, I looked closer, and realised they were looking at a sanitary pad.
At 12 years old, it was a new and exciting thing for all of us.
One of the girls had just got her first period, and it was big news.
Over the next few months, my group of friends each took that natural and important step into womanhood, the idea of a sanitary pad becoming less and less exciting each time.
‘When am I going to get mine?’ I asked my mum.
‘I’m sure it will happen soon,’ she smiled.
As the tallest girl in my class, I’d somehow assumed I was more mature, but as time went on, nothing happened.
Knowing this wasn’t normal, Mum took me to my GP, who referred me to Middlesex Hospital in London for tests.
And at age 13, I was given some news.
‘You have polycystic ovary syndrome,’ a specialist said.
PCOS was a condition that affected the way my ovaries worked.
It affected my hormone balance, and also explained why I’d never got my period.
But even with a diagnosis, it seemed things were only set to get worse for me.
Throughout my teens, I suffered with fatigue and weight gain.
I would bruise at the slightest touch and had weak muscles.
And as I got older, I started to develop wide purple stretch marks around my abdomen, breasts, and hips.
What’s worse, a fatty lump had formed between my shoulders, making me look hunched over.
I was constantly ill, and incredibly self-conscious about the way I looked.
Any teenager wants to fit in, and I was a far cry from that.
Back and forth to the hospital, I was tested for all sorts over the years – diabetes, gluten intolerance, and even a growth hormone deficiency.
But all doctors could tell me was that I had PCOS.
It was so frustrating.
At 18, I was determined to pick myself up, went to university in Reading to study speech therapy.
But the strain of coursework and being away from home soon became too much for me, and just two weeks into my second year, I had a breakdown.
‘I’m coming home,’ I sobbed down the phone to Mum. It was all too much for me to handle. Prescribed with anti-depressants, I spent the rest of that year at home. It seemed that when it came to my health, it was just one problem after another.
Will I ever lead a normal life? I wondered sadly. Determined to pick myself up again, I joined a social group for people my age to get together. Meeting other people really helped me get back on my feet, and even return to university. I continued with
regular tests at the hospital, and a few years later, when I was 23, I met my husband David.
He was also a
member of the social group I belonged to, and despite my health concerns, we hit it off right away.
David made me feel loved and
special, even when doctors were no closer to finding out what was wrong with me.
I still suffered from fatigue and muscle weakness, but even so, we managed to have a great time.
Three years later, David proposed, and we were looking forward to our future.
That year, a friend of mine, who was a student nurse, came to me with some information she’d learnt.
‘Do you think this is what you could have?’ she asked, showing me her research.
Reading the words ‘Cushing’s syndrome’, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
The condition was caused by having too much of the hormone cortisol in the body.
It caused headaches, fatigue, muscle weakness, stretch marks, no periods, and fatty tissue forming between the shoulders.
Reading the list of symptoms was like reading about my own life. ‘This is what I have!’ I gasped. A test a few days later at the hospital confirmed it – I had
Would I ever lead a normal life?
Staring at a positive pregnancy test, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
And being pregnant felt absolutely amazing.
Despite my condition, our baby grew well, and in November 2007 at Good Hope Hospital, our son Joshua came along.
Holding him in my arms, it was a dream come true.
I couldn’t believe that he was finally here.
And while being a new mum was
stressful, David was a huge support, and I loved every minute. So much so, David and I decided
to give it another go.
‘It would be nice for Joshua to
have a little brother or sister,’ I smiled one day.
So, in February 2009, I had
another round of IVF.
My body may have failed me in
many ways, but not like this – I was soon pregnant again.
Our son Adam was born that November, completing our family of four.
After that, I became a full-time mum, and felt so grateful to have my two boys.
Despite everything, they were here, and it was a miracle.
As the boys got older, I decided to train in holistic therapy, and now run a small business offering help to others who have chronic illnesses by teaching them techniques on how to deal with their stress. These techniques are based on how I used to feel while I was battling something I just couldn’t put my finger on.
I use chakra therapy, reflexology and aromatherapy to help people take control of their illness.
It’s done wonders for me, and I’m in a much better place now.
I will have to take steroid medication for the rest of my life to keep my hormones in check, but when I look at my beautiful family, I know it’s all worth it. Joshua, now 12, is very scientific and wants to become an inventor, while Adam, now 10, is very sporty. David, now 46, and I are looking towards a bright future together. I spent so many years fighting a condition I didn’t even know existed. While there may not be a cure for what I have, I’ve learnt to adapt. It put me on a path to finding my wonderful husband and having my two boys – and I wouldn’t change a thing.
I didn’t know the condition existed
John D. White seemed like perfect fiancé material. He was a church minister for a small Michigan congregation and had convinced the community that he was trustworthy.
Sally Gay thought she’d struck lucky when John popped the question, but she didn’t have a clue about his past.
John was an ex-convict who had committed two violent crimes, and unknown to her, he’d set his sights on his next victim: Sally’s beautiful daughter... John, 55, was
He had a violent past a self-appointed minister of a small congregation in a small church.
He spoke of a troubled past, and a few at the church who had employed him knew the sickening truth, but John preached of finding God and being a changed man.
Sally Gay was a member of the church.
She fell for John’s religious heart and his selfless attitude towards people who needed help.
They started dating and soon got engaged.
Sally’s daughter Rebekah, 24, lived in the same trailer park as John in Broomfield Township with her three-year-old son.
She was a single mum, but had found love, too.
Her boyfriend Aaron Quinn had bought a diamond ring and was on the brink of proposing.
John was so trusted by Sally and the church, that Rebekah allowed him to watch her young son when she had to work. Rebekah was religious herself. She did prayer with her son every night and had a Bible by her bed.
She would never have questioned her trust in John.
But John wasn’t all he seemed.
In 1981, he’d served two years for choking and stabbing a 17-yearold girl after luring her to his basement.
Incredibly, after being stabbed 15 times, the young woman survived.
In 2007, when he’d moved to the area, he’d just been released from prison after serving almost 12 years for manslaughter.
This time, he’d killed a 26-yearold woman who he had been having an affair with.
At first, when John arrived in town, people were wary of him.
There was something not quite right about him.
Neighbours would later say that at first he gave out a ‘creepy eerie type vibe,’ but when they typed his name into the internet, nothing came up about his past.
They assumed they were all wrong about him.
John grew on people with his chatty personality, and soon he slotted into the community as if he’d lived there all his life.
With his holy ways, people assumed that any troubles in the past were now long behind him.
Then Rebekah went missing at Halloween.
Her work colleagues reported the young woman missing when she didn’t show up on 31 October 2012.
As police searched for Rebekah, John asked his congregation of around 14
He prayed for the woman he killed