In April 2000, I was taken ill with what I thought was a glandular infection. My GP diagnosed a virus and hence I was not prescribed antibiotics. Blood tests proved negative but I did not get better.

I became so ill I could not lift my head off the pillow. My head and neck ached constantly, and my neck had swollen up like a hamster. Finally I was rushed to A&E, first to Greenwich for a gland inspection and then to Lewisham where the ENT dept eventually diagnosed a branchial cyst, a cyst in the embryonic tissue in my neck.

I stayed in hospital for 5 days, and was pumped with vast amounts of antibiotics to kill the infection. Swabs were also taken, and surgery was recommended once the infection had gone. Eventually I was allowed home to recuperate. I also underwent a CT scan. Following my stay in hospital, I was regularly very sick; a reaction I believe, to the drugs I had been treated with. It took a long time to recover; I had absolutely no energy and even had difficulty walking to the end of the road. I was off work for almost three months.