Woman who struggled to leave house eyes huge walk

A woman who found leaving the house difficult for almost two decades is planning to take part in a 22-mile charity walk in memory of a friend.

Caroline Murphy, from Alveley in Shropshire, was diagnosed with ME when she was 17 and also developed the brain condition Idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

As a result she said her mental health suffered and she would spend large amounts of time in bed.

Recently, she has started going out more and said she wanted to take part in the Bridgnorth Walk on 4 May to recognise one of the people who supported her, Ceri Collins, who died in 2022.

Murphy will be 38 next month. She said that since her ME diagnosis, she had been on "a long road of different doctors and treatments".

ME is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome and idiopathic intracranial hypertension is a condition which can cause severe headaches, vision loss, and tinnitus.

She said: "I would spend week on week asleep and never feel like I fully rested."

This was especially damaging in her teens and 20s, she said, when she wanted to go out to socialise with other people of her own age, but did not feel able to.

"I would manage to make it out of the house about once a month," she said, and was "constantly being alone".

The turning point came when she realised: "I'm going to be in bed for ever and I'm essentially just rotting in bed at the moment."

With the help of her doctor she said she was able to end her reliance on morphine and "started doing little bits of exercise".

It started with walking the dog and progressed to joining clubs, taking up boxing, fitness and swimming.

"It was an extremely hard to mentally and physically push myself to do that", she said, but "I just kept thinking 'I can't live like this forever'."

Murphy said as she became fitter she made new friends and Collins was among them.

She said he was a "shining star" with whom she bonded through their love of music. She said he "supported me with my health and mental health".

His death made her think about her own life and she said: "When something like that happens it makes you feel like you owe more to them and to yourself as well."

Ahead of the walk she has set up an online fundraising page to support the Andy's Man Club charity, which helps men with their mental health.

The Bridgnorth challenge was "definitely something he would have done", she said.

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