Laura Dunks
Age:
22 Location:
St. Albans, Hertfordshire, EnglandPersonal Website/blog: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lauradunks
Positions in WAMCARE: Board of Directors Chair, Writer
Conditions: Fairly severe ME/CFS, mild POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), asthma, allergies, eczema.
What I would be doing if well:
I am a medical student currently on leave due to fairly severe ME/CFS, when I am well enough to go back and complete my degree I hope to specialise in surgery or with children. Although if I get the opportunity to do something for people with ME/CFS I doubt I would turn it down! I also enjoy horse riding and surfing. I usually spend a lot of time volunteering or working with children with learning disabilities and also looking after or babysitting the children of my friends. I love travel, especially backpacking and volunteering abroad, my favourite trip was 2 months travelling and volunteering in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands for 2 months in 2007.
Interests
I have focused
on since becoming ill:
I
am currently staying with my
Grandparents who are supporting me and
looking after me as I am still not well enough to look after
myself. However, I have improved since January when I was bed
bound and unable to watch tv for more than 15 minutes or hold a
conversation for more than 5. I can now sit up for 2-3 hours a day and
walk about 30 metres, although I was managing more than that when I
relapsed a month ago.
I am very interested in photography and have had my own Nikon D200 digital SLR for 18 months now and Photoshop CS2 on my computer. I often photograph wildlife both in my grandparents garden and when taken out on short trips. I am very interested in photographing the red kites which fly over my Grandparents' garden almost daily.
I am very interested in photography and have had my own Nikon D200 digital SLR for 18 months now and Photoshop CS2 on my computer. I often photograph wildlife both in my grandparents garden and when taken out on short trips. I am very interested in photographing the red kites which fly over my Grandparents' garden almost daily.
Although
I can’t go dancing and or do other high energy activities with
my friends I still enjoy being able to go out for a meal, or a short
shopping trip or to the cinema. Recently I have become well enough to
attend the meetings of my local Leo Club (youth version of the
international Lions clubs) which I have been a member of since I was
16. However, it will be a while before I manage to become involved in
their more energetic activities.
I have obviously also become very involved in WAMCARE, which I at first added to my campaigning for ME/CFS but since then it became my main focus and I have incorporated all other campaigning within it and have made some lifelong friends in the WAMCARE team members and volunteers.
I also write about my health and experiences with ME/CFS as well as try and educate people on campaigns, news and updates on WAMCARE and important facts about ME/CFS and the way in which patients are treated on my Caringbridge site here:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lauradunks
WAMCARE has very much allowed me to do that. The feeling of people
telling you that you have helped them is amazing, and the knowledge of
what we will do in the future is even more astounding. I have obviously also become very involved in WAMCARE, which I at first added to my campaigning for ME/CFS but since then it became my main focus and I have incorporated all other campaigning within it and have made some lifelong friends in the WAMCARE team members and volunteers.
I also write about my health and experiences with ME/CFS as well as try and educate people on campaigns, news and updates on WAMCARE and important facts about ME/CFS and the way in which patients are treated on my Caringbridge site here:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/lauradunks
Visions and goals for
WAMCARE:
I want to highlight the voices of those with ME/CFS and get them heard. I am a person who very much needs to spend time helping others and after becoming more ill was not able to do so.
I want to highlight the voices of those with ME/CFS and get them heard. I am a person who very much needs to spend time helping others and after becoming more ill was not able to do so.
This is what I am waiting for:
- The day when we can give our first donation to biomedical research.
- The day when we can support a tissue bank for ME/CFS research.
- The day when the world unites to use diagnostic criteria equivalent to or better than the Canadian criteria.
- The day when all of the studies in the world use inclusion criteria which only incorporates those with ME/CFS
- The day when someone with symptoms of ME/CFS gets diagnosed by a doctor in a reasonable amount of time, referred to an appropriate specialty (not psychiatry,) then treated with a beneficial treatment plan.
- The day when the Blue Ribbon for ME/CFS means to everyone everywhere what they Pink Ribbon for breast cancer means now.
- The day when someone who is diagnosed
is surrounded by people falling over themselves to support them, and do
whatever they
can to make the lives of the patient better, because they
truly understand what it means to be a person with ME/CFS. - The day when the children of tomorrow will ask their parents in horror: "You mean there was a time when ME/CFS was called "yuppie flu" and people thought it was a psychiatric disorder like they once did with MS and Inflamatory Bowel Disease?"
- The opportunities are infinite, but are ONLY possible with your continued support. I, like everyone else on this team, am willing to give as much as time, energy, ideas and funds as possible to this cause, but it won't be the success we know it can be without the continued support of yourself and others like you. Nothing is impossible if enough people are willing to try. We have made astounding progress in two months due to the determination and dedication of a few. Help make ALL our dreams a reality! Help make our 28 million voices HEARD! We will NOT be silenced!
Volunteer For Wamcare!
Want to join the WAMCARE Team and make a difference?
Check out our volunteer pages,
or email: volunteer@wamcare.org