Long Sutton woman diagnosed after 20-year illness
A woman diagnosed with a rare illness after 20 years has been speaking about the condition to raise awareness.
Lincolnshire doctors diagnosed that Christine Wicks (65) had actinomycosis – a rare, chronic infection of the body's tissue caused by a strain of bacteria – last year when London medics did not know what it was.
Now her husband Fred has to inject powerful antibiotics into an exterior line in her chest three times a day and doctors say she will never be cured because the infection has spread to her lungs.
Christine is left tired because of the toll the drugs take on her body but is keeping positive and trying to raise awareness about actinomycosis to give something back to the medical profession which has helped her.
She said: "When I got a diagnosis it was just 'wow' because I had never had a name for it before.
"It's a lonely illness. When you've got cancer there is a support system but there is no-one I can go to with this.
"It runs our life now but at the end of the day I am lucky to be alive. I cherish that. I'm not upset or angry that it's taken so long. If I was angry I could not move forward."
Christine, who moved to Long Sutton from London eight years ago, said her symptoms started with persistent sore throats which spread to her ears, eyes and nose and her face swelled up.
She then developed muscle pain, fevers and breathing difficulties which put her in hospital.
It was only when she coughed up a white granular lump and took it to her GP Dr John Jacklin at Suttons Medical Centre that her condition was finally diagnosed.
Christine praised the doctors and nurses at Long Sutton and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in King's Lynn, and her husband, who have been caring for her, and added: "The work Fred does for me is amazing.
"The care I have had has been phenomenal.
"That's why it's important to me to give something back."
Christine has also donated 620 to her medical centre to buy equipment.
She will receive drugs through her external line until March next year and then doctors will assess how well she has responded.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Spalding
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
