OLYMPIC horsewoman Mary King has had her Christmas present early - a healthy daughter.

"I can hug my daughter again for the first time since September," said Mary at her Salcombe Regis stables near Sidmouth this week, just days after daughter Emily undertook a three-day Lightning Process Course to cure her of ME.

Emily, 14 in January, became ill four days after returning to start the school autumn term, getting a sore throat and feeling lifeless. Later she had headaches and stomach ache.

She said: "I was tired, lethargic and no energy. I had hypersensitive skin all the time and the slightest touch really hurt. I would cry in my dreams and never got to sleep until 4am."

A bad fall from her horse in competition left her with two broken ribs and it was the start of Emily's health troubles.

Tests ruled out glandular fever and other illnesses, and she was referred to a paediatrician, who recognised the symptoms as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME).

Mary said: "It has been a total nightmare, truly a horrible time for us. Emily has been like a zombie for three months. She has not been able to do anything, but has just been lying on the sofa.

"She hasn't been to school, hasn't seen any friends. She has had slurred speech and has been crying in her sleep. It was almost as if she was in a different world.

"They told us that she would get better but it could take two years - well two years of that was just an awful thought. Emily even felt so poorly she even said she would rather die than keep feeling as she did.

"She was fainting a lot. I'd hear a crash in the night and she'd have fainted in the bathroom."

Emily described ME as brain fog. "It was so weird, you know you are really there and you watch yourself doing things but you are not living, you are in your own little world."

It was pure luck Mary discovered the Lightning Process treatment that helps people recover such ailments such as ME, post viral fatigue and Fibromyalgia.

"Someone called me to use my photograph in their leaflet on the Bowen Technique. I am very not into these alternative medicines. Because of being with horses you get a lot of that going on."

When he sent the leaflet for approval, she saw something about ME and asked him to look at Emily in exchange for using her picture.

"He said he couldn't help but a friend of a friend's daughter had just done the Lightning Process course and was totally healed."

Mary researched LP online and booked a course for Emily at Oakley Clinic in Bideford, run by advanced therapist Jan Oakley after reading testimonials from TV's Esther Rantzen, and rugby star Austin Healey, both with family ME sufferers.

Last week's three-day course cost £550, but Mary says it was worth every penny to see Emily recover.

"I sat with her through the course and noticed a difference in her after the first day. It felt like she had been let out of a cage. It is almost nice to hear her and her brother (Freddie) squabbling. It was so quiet in the house."

Emily added: "It was amazing, as soon as I had finished the course I felt so much better. The next day I wanted to play tennis and catch up with my friends."

Mary said: "I think the NHS should offer it and in time should fund it, £500 is a lot of money but it is nothing to get a healthy life again."

"If there are ME sufferers out there who want to speak to me about our experiences I am happy to do so. I feel it is the least I can do to try to help people know there is the possibility of making their life normal again.

Reproduced from the Sidmouth Midweek Herald

Article also reproduced in the Horse and Hound