When I was a teenager, my first job was as a laboratory assistant with a company that made garden products and insecticides. It was my duty to mix up trial batches of various products and I can remember handling 100% concentrations of chlordane, dieldrin, malathion and other such toxic substances.

The only “protective clothing” was a lab coat that was laundered once a week - no gloves, and fume cupboards were not used. The only warning I was given was that if I spilled something on myself I should wash it off before eating or drinking!

I left there after a few months following an incident where I was drenched in malathion while emptying faulty aerosol cans and became ill.

The next year I started another laboratory assistant job in a paint factory. It was my job to do control testing on each batch of paint made.

Though we did work in an air-conditioned lab the solvent smell was, at first, quite overwhelming.

However, after a while like most of the factory workers I stopped noticing that there was even a smell!

In hindsight I think that in fact I virtually lost my sense of smell during the 2 years I was there, and believe that this persisted for about four years after I left.

We used to have a solvent trough in the lab that we used to wash up our utensils – again no gloves. I constantly had dry, red and itchy hands and irritated burning sinuses.

About five years later, after I had married and left work, I started to develop weakness in my ankles and legs and finally had to start wearing callipers to enable me to walk. I also noticed that sometimes solvents and any strong chemical smells made me feel dizzy, and pesticides make me shaky and feel weak.

In 1977 I was put into hospital and given various tests but they could make no diagnosis as to what exactly was wrong with me. All they said was not to have children in case it was hereditary.

An orthopaedic surgeon looked at my leg problems and a year later operated on my feet and fused the joint on top of the foot, so as I would not rock sideways and would be able to walk without callipers.

In the year after this operation I started to develop problems with my hands – contracting of my fingers and weakness, and losing the ability to oppose my thumb.

I also developed problems balancing. This got dramatically worse over about 2 years, but eventually seemed to slow a bit as I learned to adapt to the weakness and now permanent contraction in my hands.

Over the years the slow progression of weakness steadily continued in my legs and my hands and I noticed worsening of my symptoms experienced when near pesticides, solvents or other chemicals.

My marriage ended in divorce mainly due to my illness and my then husband wanting children. I made a conscious decision to move on with my life and make the most of what I could do.

I had always been interested in horses and now I made riding and training show horses my life. Over the years I learned how to train my horses to compensate for my disabilities and competed quite successfully.

Eventually I remarried and settled in a semi rural area. At one stage we were forced to have our property sprayed for weeds by the Agricultural dept.

Although I stayed shut in the house it made me so ill I couldn’t get out of bed for over a week. We sold that place and moved hoping it would improve my health.

However we made a mistake by renovating the new place putting in new carpets and kitchen cupboards. I developed constant breathing and sinus problems and was put on Asthma medication.

Then I started getting debilitating vertigo attacks in the mornings or whenever I stayed inside all day.

After nearly 3 years of this living hell a doctor finally told me about indoor pollution from formaldehyde. So we sold up yet again and this time bought a very old house.

We did lots of research this time and over the next 4 years we renovated this house to be fairly chemical free.

However once again we left one area inadequately researched…… this property was in a dairy and vegetable growing area…… we asked the neighbours about their spraying habits before we purchased it and were assured they sprayed nothing nasty only glyphosate which was “harmless”

Our belief of this proved to be a very expensive mistake.

Once we moved there in 1994 I did find I could stay indoors without becoming ill and my vertigo disappeared, but over those 4 years my hands got progressively worse and my fatigue increased.

By 1997 I was finding it too dangerous to continue showing horses because my hands were so weak I couldn’t control them.

By early the next year I found it too fatiguing to even walk out to the stables let alone ride!

In early 1998 I fell over and was unable to get myself up off the floor.

Fortunately it happened when my husband was home but the incident made us realize that it was getting to risky for me to stay home alone for 10 hours a day while my husband was at work.

So he had to give up his job of 25 years and become my full time Carer.

I continued to worsen and needed help to dress myself, or feed myself and to shower.

I was unable drive anymore because my hands got too weak and I couldn’t go anywhere anyway because of the risk of encountering someone wearing perfumes or other scented products.

These cause me instant migraine and nausea plus breathing difficulties and my throat seems to close over and I cant even talk.

On two occasions my vision has also gone and I believe I have suffered a partial seizure which is not uncommon in MCS sufferers.

However anti seizure medications are toxic to MCS people so all we can do is try to avoid risky exposures and hope we don’t have a full seizure or an anaphylactic shock.

In late 1998 I was able to have DNA tests showed damage typical of organophosphates and solvents.

This explained how my illness started but we were still baffled as to why I was worsening so dramatically …………

Eventually I got a computer and a search of the Internet revealed the terrible but well hidden truth Glyphosate is an Organophosphate and a cholinesterase inhibitor – not as toxic as those that originally caused my problems but obvious the cause of my increasing weakness.

So we moved yet again in 1999, that time to a 1ha block near the sea. We chose that area to be near the sea for clean air and at that time there was little farming in the area due to the dry rocky country.

We set out to build a chemical free house but this proved extremely difficult, as most builders have no idea how to do things without using toxins !

After trying 5 builders we eventually managed to get a reasonably toxin free house – a concrete floored steel frame transportable - but it was extremely expensive for its small size.

While building we rented a house but found I could not stay inside without experiencing symptoms of exposure so we had to sleep in our old bus that was partly converted to a motor home, in the backyard.

Fortunately being summer I could go inside to eat providing the doors and Windows stayed open but even that seemed to worsen my muscle condition and over the 6 months I got considerably weaker.

By the time we moved into our new specially built chemical free house my life was very restricted.

My sole diversion is the Internet and for the most part this is my only social contact as well. I can’t even read books because the off gas from print ink causes me problems.

I now eat only Organically grown food or I get a range of distressing symptoms including difficulty breathing, burning in my mouth and throat and stomach pains.

I can’t go to visit anyone’s home as most homes contain too many toxins, which cause me to become sick.

At that time I could walk about 10 metres at a time and then only with my husband holding my arm. I used to be able to use a cane but my hand is now too weak to hold it.

We soon realised that living on such a small block in a new area was not going to work.

When a new house was built down the road I got extremely sick after they sprayed the under slab termite treatment. After that we tried to go away whenever a new house was sprayed and found it necessary to stay away for several days for it to be safe to return.

We lived in an almost continuous state of insecurity ….. when a house spraying was imminent my husband would have to drive round the subdivision every morning to see if workmen were there getting ready to pour concrete. If they were we had only a few hours notice to pack and leave !

The final straw was in early 2002 we found out that a new potato farm had been approved just 3km east of the subdivision. The strong easterly winds would blow spray drift directly to us so the only choice was to move – yet again !

We found a 3.4 ha block in an older subdivision and decided the best option was to relocate the house to this new block.

We did this in June 2002 and before we even moved into the house we found out that there was a proposal to expand the military training area 8km north of us and allow increased use by US forces !

The expansion was shelved but there has been an enormous increase in live training by both Australian and US forces.

Yet again we made a giant mistake ! We knew the DTA was there, we could hear the live naval fire on the approx 12 days per year it was used but the dangers of living near such a facility are not common knowledge!

In late 2002 the Navy used the area 7 to 8 times each month including all hours of the night. On the first time this happened with a north west wind blowing from the direction of the DTA I awoke in the middle of the night unable to breath !

More research has revealed that the emissions from live military training are as toxic as the worst kind of industry and everywhere in the world that there are communities living as close to training areas as we are they suffer a range of serious illnesses including cancers and respiratory problems.

Our life has become a nightmare …….

We cant find anywhere suitable to go that we can afford …… My biggest fear is becoming so sick I need to be hospitalised as even entering a hospital makes me feel very ill due to the strong chemicals used for cleaning.

Many MCS sufferers have died in their homes rather than risk unsuitable hospitals ……….My husband is on call 24/7 and has been unable to get respite for the nearly 6 years he has been caring for me because I cannot tolerate any respite centre !

We are a growing underclass ignored even discriminated against and have even been called the dispossessed…… please help us……..

Click here to return to Personal Stories Menu

Click on Next page to move to the next subject.