Bed-bound to MARATHO RUNNER

A food overhaul meant Kate Dunbar, 60, could stop taking meds and start living

- ASHLEIGH PAGE

Running across the field towards a group of students, I felt an intense pain course through my back. It was 2003 and sports day at the school where I taught. Powering through the rest of the day, I told myself that I’d just tweaked it and it would get better soon. But days later I was still in pain whenever I moved.

I took a few days off to recover, but the pain only got worse, to the point where I could barely walk without jarring my back. Eventually I was prescribed painkillers, which took the edge off, but not enough to get rid of the pain completely.

A few days later I bent down to pick something up and a huge pop sounded from my knee. Strangely there was no pain but immediately there was swelling. I called my partner, James, then 61, to come and look as the joint ballooned in front of our eyes. From then on the aches and pains that I once ignored just continued to get worse and worse. My knees, feet, back, shoulders and neck were all in excruciating pain. I couldn’t even get out of bed.

Guilt and worry

I spent most of that summer laying in bed, with the curtains drawn. On the days where I did get up, it took me 30 minutes to summon the energy and strength to fight the onslaught of pain. I felt terrible for my two children, my son, then 17, and my daughter, 13. I couldn’t take care of them. I couldn’t cook or clean – I just slept. James even worried that I had cancer.