A KILMACOLM woman has almost completed her second book on the village in a bid to raise money for research into two neurological diseases.

Deborah Winters, 79, was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomlylitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, 26 years ago.

ME causes fever, aching, prolonged tiredness and depression and it’s estimated to affect 250,000 people in the UK.

Having previously been a very active person, Deborah suffered a viral infection and then suddenly found she was unable to sit up in bed to get up, or to watch television because she struggled to make sense of it.

She was constantly tired and describes overcoming ME as the ‘biggest challenge of her life’.

She said: “The first two years were the worst.

“It’s an all-consuming tiredness.

“People think it’s just being tired but it’s so much more than that.

“The cognitive symptoms can be pretty bad and I sometimes struggled to form words.”

After spotting an advert for a creative writing class Deborah joined the Lochwinnoch Writers group.

It was here she discovered a passion for writing about Kilmacolm.

Deborah was determined to play her part in boosting research into ME and also Motor Neurone Disease (MND), to which she lost her father.

Unable to run marathons or climb hills, she used her love of writing to raise money.

She read one of her stories to her writers’ group and asked what they thought of her putting them all together in a book.

Encouraged by their response, she produced a book titled Village Memories – A memoir of Kilmacolm in the twentieth century.

Through sales she managed to raise £600 towards research and has now almost finished her second title, Tales of Kilmacolm.

It has been Deborah’s project for the last year and she hopes the book will be printed next month.

She said: “I wanted to bring the twentieth century back to life with stories about the people who lived here and the changes.

“The people were such a vibrant part of the community and it was a great place to grow up.

“I don’t have a fundraising target set for the book, I just hope people enjoy it and that it makes them laugh.

“It’s my gift to the village and any money raised will go towards research for ME and MND.”