Peebles woman smashes wheelchair fund target

Phoebe Boag says she is now mainly housebound as a result of the symptoms of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which she was diagnosed with in 2014.

The former charity worker set up a Just Giving page just two weeks ago and has reached her initial target but now hopes to reach a second target of £3075 to cover the cost of the website’s fees.

The 37-year-old said her symptoms include dizziness, light-headedness and muscle fatigue, and on one occasion: “I had to crawl to the bathroom, and then back to bed to rest from the overexertion of going to the bathroom.”

When she was first diagnosed, Phoebe was living in Leith, in Edinburgh, and was working for a homeless charity in a job that she loved.

She told the Southern: “I had also just been offered the opportunity of a lifetime, I was going to be living and working at the Penguin Post Office in Antarctica for four months.

“Unfortunately, just a few months before I was due to leave, I became unwell with a set of mysterious symptoms and I had to pull out of Antarctica. “I was eventually signed off work in December 2014, I was diagnosed with ME early in 2015 and moved back to my hometown Peebles so I would be closer to my mum, who does a lot to care for me.

“I am mainly housebound but I am hoping that having a wheelchair will allow me to get out and about a bit more often than I am currently able to and therefore improve my quality of life.”

The money will now be spent on an electric wheelchair.

She documents her life with ME on her blog at www.puffinsandpenguins.wordpress.com