“I am so honoured to be here representing not just Pregnancy Sickness Support but all of our UK volunteers and sufferers. Thank you so much for having me. Ann Marie and Jeremy have welcomed us into their home and we are truly grateful.
We, here today, we all know about hyperemesis and we all know about the suffering, misery and isolation the condition causes. But it’s not very often we discuss all the great stuff that can come from being an HG Survivor… You see, I wouldn’t be here with all you incredible, empowering women, partners and children if I hadn’t suffered. I would never have met Ann Marie, Jeremy and Kimber… the people I have to thank for my children and my constant inspiration. It is thanks to hyperemesis that I’ve found strength and wisdom in suffering and been empowered to speak out for woman around the world whose own voices are muted by their unsupportive doctors, employers and relatives.
It’s thanks to HG that I’ve learned to write and orate. I’ve even written a book – which I’m pretty sure defies every teacher I had in school who labelled me lazy when I was diagnosed dyslexic – It’s thanks to HG that I’ve done that. Nothing else would have instilled in me such a passion and determination and nothing else would have affected me so much to know that’s what I had to do.
And I would like to take a moment to tell you about how much all the hard work that the HER Foundation and PSS are putting in is paying off. The fruits of our labours are ripening.
The world is changing. The Hyperemesis Improvement Movement is making in roads now. Care is improving, awareness is growing, bad practice is becoming less acceptable, research is increasing. But most of all support for sufferers is growing. No longer do women have to battle all alone. Thanks to the volunteers of the HER Foundation, Beyond Morning Sickness and Pregnancy Sickness Support, when a women finds herself floored by HG she can now find us. She can contact a volunteer and she is no longer alone. It is thanks to the hard work of these charities that more and more women and their babies are surviving HG.