A MELKSHAM mum feels she has missed out on her daughter's life after contracting the debilitating disease ME, just one year after giving birth.

Sharon Thomas, 40, of Ferris Grove, said she has been unable to play an active part in her nine-year-old daughter Chontelle's life since developing ME.

Prompted to come forward after Melksham town councillor Kim Haste, 40, revealed she is suffering from the disease, Mrs Thomas said more money should be pumped into finding a cure.

Last week Trowbridge sufferer Helen Tedman, 37, called for more help groups to be created for sufferers in west Wiltshire.

Unable to take her daughter to nearby Lowbourne Junior School, Mrs Thomas said the condition was "a living nightmare".

She said: "My whole life is gone. I have had long periods of being completely housebound.

"I have been deteriorating lately and can't even take my daughter on holiday.

"It is very hard for her. I can't do the things I want to with her and sometimes she finds it hard to understand.

"It has been getting worse over a number of years. I get exhausted so easily.

"I wanted to know if it is life-threatening as sometimes I feel like I'm going to die."

Mrs Thomas wants more money to be put into finding a cure for the disease, which mainly affects women aged between 20 and 40. She said: "There should be more research, we are getting nowhere. It has taken this long just to get the disease recognised."

Hundreds of internet sites have been set up to help people learn about ME, short for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, including several UK charities. Linked with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post Viral Syndrome, the disease has no known cure.

The ME Association is one of the organisations helping sufferers.

Praising the disease's recognition by the Chief Medical Officer in January, the organisation said there has been "a chronic lack of funding for research into ME for years".

The association can be contacted on (01280) 818960.