I woke up at 5am feeling very ill. I tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but couldn’t walk because I felt so dizzy. Every time I lifted up my head I was sick, this went on and on and I was panic-stricken. I simply couldn’t believe what was happening to me. Luckily I had a telephone in my bedroom and so I called my sister. She came to see me, took one look at me and called the emergency services.

This was on the 25th June 1994 and I was diagnosed with vertigo. Even though my symptoms persisted and worsened for the next seven weeks, the doctors were not convinced that it was down to anything else. My speech became slurred, my vision blurred and I was paralysed down one side of my face. Eventually the doctors took a bit more notice and I was finally referred to a specialist who sent me for some tests. I began a session of CAT and MRI scans until it was found that I had inflammation of my brain stem due to contracting some ‘unknown’ virus. At this point I was so weak I was unable to walk, had little or no co-ordination and suffered this constant dizziness every time I moved my head.

I spent the next two weeks in hospital and was discharged with some medication and basically just told to get on with it. They referred me to a physio’, but frankly the journey to his clinic made me feel so ill that I ouldn’t make it and so I decided to try and help myself more at home.

For the next year I was wheelchair-bound. I could walk a little bit with some help, but had such poor co-ordination and felt so ill and dizzy with violent headaches that I felt totally incapacitated. I’d gone from being a reasonably fit and healthy 31-year-old, with my own house and a job that I loved in nursery nursing, to being totally dependent on my sister, living back with my mum and dad and relying heavily on my friends and family. It was pretty devastating at the time!

I had been friends with Heather Pedley, and in December ‘97 she introduced me to Coby. Leading up to Christmas I was feeling quite desperate, the prospect of facing the rest of my life dependent on others was really outfacing me. I was very depressed and on medication for this. I met Coby in Heather’s office. She had told him very little about what had happened to me, but he seemed to instantly know what it was that was really wrong. Because I was unable to stand, Coby sat next to me and put his hands on the back of my neck. At that moment, I felt intense heat around this area, but emotionally I began to feel different. Because of my experiences I had little faith in the health system at that time. I’d been passed from pillar to post, and because my condition was difficult to pin-point exactly, it felt to me like no-one really cared. Looking back now, I’m sure this wasn’t the case, but it certainly felt like it and it was at such a crucial time, when I needed constant reassurance and support.

At this meeting with Coby I actually felt hopeful – a feeling I’d not experienced in a long time. It was as if a cloud had been lifted and the sun had come out a little bit. I felt happy in myself and on the way home I commented to my dad that I actually felt quite giddy. A couple of weeks after that I tried the Em-Power Disc for the first time. Because of the damage to my brain stem, Coby told me that it would be unlikely that I would receive any physical responses, so I wasn’t expecting to feel anything or move at all. At this time I was still very poorly, quite unco-ordinated, depressed and still needed to be helped to walk, or pushed around in a wheelchair.

Over the first three months of using the Disc I started to feel more and more confident. I had been relying on others for what seemed to me to be such a long time and now I felt I could do more for myself. I had more energy and I didn’t tire so easily.

Up to this point my sister had been really taking care of everything for me. I felt as if I couldn’t cope with even the simplest of tasks, such as paying bills or making a telephone call. She just dealt with it for me. I was very cocooned and dependent. Part of me wanted this, because I felt safe, but as I worked more with the Disc I realised that this wasn’t actually me! I started to take charge of my life more, realising that I needed some independence and my connection to my Higher Self gave me the confidence that I needed to do this.

Last year, as every week went by, I felt better and better. Naturally I wanted to know more about the Em-Power Disc and how it could help me and others like me. I became much steadier with my walking, in fact I have been able to walk unassisted for several months now and my dizziness has subsided. I came to work here with Heather, Coby and the team and I now give my time to the Em-Power Research Project. I cannot truly express the benefits I have received from incorporating Em-Power Therapy into my day-to-day life. I am happy, positive, and not scared to think about the future. All in all I am very content at the moment. I don’t take antidepressants any more and when I do get fed up, dizzy or suffer a bad headache, instead of being frightened or falling apart, I know that it’s only a moment in my life and that it will pass. I can now cope much better with all aspects of my life and even though I still attend the hospital, I feel much more in control and responsible for myself.

I can still have bad days, and I still have days when I need medication. I get very tired sometimes too. But nevertheless I feel as if I’ve got my life back together now and with every day that goes by I get stronger and I am more able to take things in my stride. I still don’t get any physical signals when I use the Disc and sometimes I wonder if there’s anything happening when I’m giving my command sequences. Then I remember, think about my condition only months ago and realise that it really has made such a tremendous contribution to my life.