A FORMER international athlete has described how she was left crawling around her house after being struck down by ME.

Janette Cardy, 39, from Madley Park, Witney, represented Great Britain in the world biathle championships in Monaco in 2003, running 1500m, swimming 200m and then running another 1500m in under 15 minutes.

But just a year later, the fatigue syndrome ended her sporting career.

Now she is launching dance classes in Oxfordshire to help people affected by illness get fit again.

Ms Cardy said: “Sport was everything for me. I was up at five in the morning to train, and in bed by nine.

“When I took part in my first world championship, there was nothing bigger in my life. I wanted to go back the next year and get on the podium.”

But in 2004, a week after coming third in a competition in Italy, she felt ill preparing for a 10k race in Kidlington.

She said: “I did the race, but was feeling worse and worse. I had pain in my legs, and my glands were up.”

Doctors told her she was suffering chronic fatigue or Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME). Her body had gone into shutdown after being pushed to the limit for years.

Ms Cardy said: “I never knew how long it would take to get better. There was nothing I could do. There’s no medication. I was totally helpless and just had to go on through it.”

She added: “For nine months, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t walk without holding somebody else.

“A 10-minute walk would wipe me out for the rest of the day.

“It was very hard, and totally frustrating. I would always get up, because I didn’t want to stay in bed, but sometimes I couldn’t even walk to the toilet.

“I would be crawling on my hands and knees to get there.”

Even after the worst had passed, she endured four slow years of recovery.

She said: “I might plan to go out for dinner, but would then have a relapse for a whole weekend. I lost quite a few friends through it.

“When I was really, really ill, people could understand. But when people saw you working, but then unable go out for a meal, it was more difficult.”

She added: “It was horrendous, and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, but I believe you can look back on everything in life and learn something.

“I miss the big competitions, but now I get my highs from helping people get fit.”

She runs fitness classes in community halls around the county.

Her latest venture is teaching zumba dance, a Latin fusion of salsa and merengue, in Oxford, Abingdon, Witney, Bampton and Eynsham.

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk

For more information about her dance classes, see janettecardyfitness.co.uk

ME (short for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Encephalopathy) is an illness which affects up to 250,000 people in the UK. It has a range of symptoms. These can include:

  • Overwhelming and persistent fatigue or tiredness. It may strike suddenly or over a number of days
  • Feeling generally unwell, similar to having flu and a sore throat with or without swollen glands
  • Pain, which can be aching muscles and joints, pins and needles, muscle twitches, and headaches
  • Problems with balance, dizziness and vertigo
  • Sleep difficulties such as sleeping excessively, not being able to sleep, waking in the early hours, restless sleep and sleep reversal (sleeping at odd hours)
  • Problems with thinking such as concentration difficulties, memory problems and difficulty finding the right words
  • Problems with digestion, such as nausea or loss of appetite, indigestion, stomach cramps and diarrhoea or constipation.
  • Increased sensitivity to some foods, alcohol, medicines, bright lights, noise and odours.