Updating the In Memoriam page is undoubtedly the hardest part of running this website. At the beginning of the year I lost two friends – Kara and Anna – and it has taken a couple of months for me to feel able to do justice to their memory here. Even writing this post I find … More Remembering, With Love
Tomorrow it will be ten years since the death of my close friend, Emily Collingridge. Can it really be so long? Attaching time to loss often feels strange: it implies distance from an event that, in reality, is always present. Years may have passed, but it is always ‘today’ that a loved one is missing. … More In Memory of My Friends
Forty years ago this week, on 17th April, my friend Emily Collingridge was born. She was a warm, caring and spirited young woman, whose fierce determination helped her carve a path through a life of tremendous suffering. On that spring day in 1981, no one could have imagined the impact that her short life was … More Emily at 40: In Celebration and Sorrow
Seven years ago today, my first article in The Daily Telegraph was published. It told of the suffering and death of my dear friend Emily Collingridge. Emily had been passionate about raising awareness of ME, and I couldn’t bear the thought of her death passing unnoticed by the wider world. I wrote a piece about … More Emily, My Inspiration
A Life Hidden is a year old this week. This milestone is an opportunity to look back on the year that has passed, and also to thank everyone who has supported my writing during this time. On a personal level it has been a difficult year. Shortly after launching the site, I suffered a … More A Life Hidden – the First Year
The following piece was written by Emily Collingridge in 2010 and 2011, and circulated on social media around that time. Emily died in hospital less than a year after completing it. Today I share her writing to mark Severe ME Awareness Day, on 8th August. Nearly 10 years after Emily wrote these powerful words, the situation … More Severe M.E. Awareness Day: Emily’s Appeal
A Life Hidden 