At last, I have discovered the secret of Emily's 14 lost years, by Esther Rantzen | Mail Online

A strong bond: Esther Rantzen with her daughter Emily who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome

You can never be happier than your least happy child, theysay, and it's true. In our family, for 14 desperate years, our least happychild was my eldest, Emily, who became ill with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis)and then seriously disabled.

It struck her down when she was 14, after an attackof glandular fever. She never fully recovered from the illness and we watchedhelplessly as she struggled with chronic fatigue which, like a sticky web,slowly paralysed her.

In the end she was imprisoned  -  bed-bound,lying in a darkened room, unable to read, write or even to speak.

At that point she went to hospital, where theypushed her by baby-steps, one word at a time, one more minute of light eachday, until she progressed into a wheelchair, and then on to her feet.

The greatjoy of my life was that her father, my husband Desmond Wilcox, saw her walkingagain before he died ten years ago.

And she continued to improve  -  slowly,year by year. But it was through management and willpower, not treatment andcure. As with many families battling an illness for which there is no knowntreatment, we were offered countless 'miracle cures'. Some people suggested weshould bring a dowser into the house so that we could realign her bed.

Others told us to give her transfusions ofvitamins, make her have ice-cold baths, give her oxygen at night or hangcrystals around her neck. Since neither she nor I are attracted by unprovencomplementary mumbo-jumbo, we politely refused. But when a friend and fellow MEsufferer told us about the positive results of the Lightning Process (a form ofcognitive behavioural therapy or neuro-linguistic programming), Emily decided totry it.

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