An Interview with Martha Kilcoyne
by Cort Johnson - Phoenix Rising www.phoenixrising.me After a bout with the flu when she was pregnant in 1993 Martha Kilcoyne was stuck with flu-like symptoms that never went away. On disability after two years of fruitless battle with the disease, she and her husband started over from ground zero. Working by themselves they pioneered several techniques that forward thinking physicians use as a matter of course today. An activity/ medication/sleep/symptom log allowed her to identify activities that helped and hurt her. Finding good sleep and pain medications and a strict sleep hygiene program helped her to finally get some deep sleep. A focus on nutrition and a recovery pace that allowed her to be a patient helped further. The final piece of her puzzle was filled in with blood volume enhancement. A year on her protocol left her feeling well for the first time in three years and a year after that she was fully returned to health. She celebrated her wellness by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2000. Ten years later, still fully healthy, she returned to tell her story in the book ‘Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: You Don’t Have to Live with It. An Eight Step Protocol.’ You have such a great story – complete recovery from chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)! We don’t hear that a lot. Some people are going to think ‘Well she probably never had CFS” but it sounded like you were in pretty bad shape. At one point you said “When I peered around…I was in a dark unfamiliar space. My state of mind at this point was fragile”. How bad did it get? Continue |
Interview with Martha
by Carole LaMon - Staff Writer MetroWest Daily News/Sudbury Town Crier Conquering Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Author Tells How She Defeated Disease SUDBURY - Standing breathless, exhausted and exhilarated at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, Martha Kilcoyne rejoiced in how far she had come in conquering Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness that once seemed insurmountable. The trip to the summit of Africa’s highest mountain in Aug. 2000 was a symbolic victory for Kilcoyne, and a confirmation that her life was back to normal. That she climbed the mountain with her husband, John Voyta was also a celebration of a relationship that truly weathered the "in sickness and in health" promise of their wedding vows. In her book, "Defeat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: You Don’t Have to Live With It" Kilcoyne provides eight steps to begin to control, and finally cure, a disease she calls a "roller coaster illness" of briefly feeling better and then plummeting to a new low. "My reason for writing this book is to bring a new voice to the CFS dialogue, the message that contrary to what your doctor may tell you, many CFS sufferers do get well," said Kilcoyne. "I’m one of them." Continue |