{"product_id":"2940149599707","title":"Diana's Story","description":"'A funny, sad, and above all, enormously inspiring story' Clare Francis, Action for M.E.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn 1971 Deric Longden's wife Diana fell ill with the mysterious disorder known as ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis). She was unable to move without a wheelchair, and was in almost constant pain. Equally distressing, perhaps, was the fact that every doctor she saw was unable to diagnose what was wrong with her. Deric, devoting more and more time to looking after Diana, watched his business gradually fail, and had to neglect his developing career as a broadcaster. He became househusband, nurse and caretaker of the woman he loved.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eDiana's Story is told by a writer who can transform the bleakest moment with his warmth and wit. It is an extraordinarily funny account of a marriage based on love and on an exceptional sense of humour.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e'A remarkable book, warm and sad…laced with a lot of humour'\u003cbr\u003eSunday Express\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘I’ve been lucky with the women in my life. My mother brought me up to be tough and self-reliant, but at the same time made quite sure she had removed all those stick-out macho edges before she let me loose on the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo when I met my first wife, Diana, I was able to delight in her ambition and independence.  We were together for twenty seven years, but life became harder for her over the last fifteen as she became more and more ill and paralysed.  Diana never received a satisfactory diagnosis in her life.  It was the pain and uncertainty of not knowing what was wrong and the endless rounds of visits to hospital and the endless rounds of invasive tests which led nowhere. Diana said about the doctors, ‘I am beginning to feel sorry for them.’  Diana’s life ended in an awful death by accidental drowning in the bath during a blackout.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI never knew about ‘ME’ (myalgic encephalomyelitis) until some time later and when a diagnosis can’t be made with a sufferer, it condemns them to a lifetime of pain and repetitive trials, if only to prove their pain is real and the doctors are wrong.’\u003cbr\u003eDeric Longden\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bibliophile Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068076343536,"sku":"2940149599707","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940149599707_p0.jpg?v=1763719878","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940149599707","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}