AVRIL KASPERSEN - Letter from Avril Kaspersen, Carina's mother, dated 13 May 1995.

I READ WITH INTEREST Professor Alan Smith's views in the March publication of M.E.S.A. According to him there will be no miraculous breakthrough in M.E. (CFS) research, instead the mystery of the syndrome will be unravelled little by little until the full picture emerges.

As a mother of a 15 year old sufferer ( A typical "A" type personality and high achiever ). I'd like to share some exciting news! From my daughter's story you can appreciate exactly how M.E. (CFS) was ruining the quality of her life - for us as parents a very distressing situation and with no-one who could offer any hope for a cure. We were told M.E. could be part of her life for anything up to 10 years.

At the time when Carina wrote her story we heard about a Dr. Nebojsa Petrovic who had cured Estelle Meyer, an M.E. (CFS) sufferer for 10 years. Again we found ourselves investigating the possibility of yet another doctor being able to help our daughter.

Dr. Petrovic is registered in the category of medical consultants for antioxidants and in the category of Bio Medical Researcher regarding supplements and antioxidants.

On Tuesday 11 April 1995, he began treating Carina with various bio antioxidants and supplements. On the Sunday before she started her treatment she was so fatigued that she could hardly get out of bed and then a miraculous thing happened! On the second day of taking this new medication she had such a surge of energy - she took the dog for a run, she jumped on the neighbour s trampoline and spent about half an hour dancing to her favourite music, with none of the muscle pain and fatigue she would previously have experienced.

Thereafter we can only report favourably. In a period of less than a month she started to run and play netball again. She now copes with reading an entire book and is presently learning for her mid-year exams, which commence on 17 May. Studying and the ability to concentrate has improved drastically since her 1994 year end exams. She no longer comes home from school and collapses on her bed - instead she participates in various extra mural activities, e.g. Chess, Choir, Drama and netball. after four days on the medication her chest pains disappeared completely. She says homework is no longer " the mission it used to be ". She laughs and giggles again.

On Friday it the 28 April I found her sobbing in the bedroom, I thought, Oh no! What now? Here goes the depression again! In between crying she said she was so scared - scared because she was so much better - will people now expect her to be the person she used to be? Will she be able to swim competitively again, be a top ten student again and dared she ever hope to be Dux pupil again? Time will tell, we assured her that to have a headache free, pain free, happy, laughing daughter back again is all we could ask for and that for us, trying her best " would be the only measure of her success. She will soon commence her second months treatment.

To any M.E. (CFS) sufferers out there, who to would like to experience this miraculous improvement, if not cure, we are trusting in the complete cure after this our second months treatment.

Mrs Kaspersen wrote a follow - up letter on 3 July 1995:

We, Carina's parents are absolutely thrilled with her progress!

Within days of commencing with Dr. Petrovic's treatment using bio-antioxidants and supplements all her M.E. (CFS) symptoms disappeared miraculously. No more chest pain, headaches, backache, joint pain, pain in her limbs, etc., and thank goodness the extreme fatigue is a thing of the past! I can really recommend this treatment to any one burdened with this absolutely debilitating condition - I wish I could shout out to each one of them " THERE IS HOPE "

Carina has had two months treatment and she is now on Dr. Petrovic's maintenance programme which could last for approximately six months.

You have no idea what it means to see our 16 year old daughter happy and free from the depression of the M.E. (CFS) syndrome.

Our family has been really ill with this winter's flu and its complications. My husband was even hospitalised - and yes you Carina escaped having any of the symptoms. She has been running, swimming and playing netball again. Her netball team won their league and yesterday her school had their annual inter house athletics. Carina ran in the 1500m and the 800m events as well as in the relay. She was placed 7th in the long distance events and survived the days activities without any of the M.E. (CFS) symptoms - coming home beaming because she was back on the track again. At last she is once more able to study and is presently working very hard to catch up on all the gaps caused whilst she was ill.

I wish to put on record my sincere thanks to Dr. Petrovic for what he has done for our daughter - yes, I was sceptical at first. We doubted that he would be able to help Carina when all the other doctors had failed - I'm so glad we gave him and his treatment a chance. Our daughter is well and that is 100% proof his treatment works! I sincerely hope that our experience will not only be of interest but also provide hope to all those desperate M.E. (CFS) sufferers out there.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information,

Telephone: +27-11-768-3384.

Yours Faithfully,

(signed) Avril Kaspersen.