Muldoon daughter battles with illness
By MICHELLE LOTTER - North Shore Times | Tuesday, 25 September 2007


SOLDIERING ON: Barbara Williams is not letting motor neurone disease get the better of her.

The last thing on Barbara Williams' mind when she started an exciting new job in Sydney was her health.

So when she started slurring her speech, found it hard to swallow food and developed a slightly husky voice, the research manager had no idea it was motor neurone disease.

Almost three years after being diagnosed with the degenerative debilitating condition, the daughter of former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon and Dame Thea, has released a book about her experience.

Her medical background as a nurse has helped her explain her condition in her book Losing My Voice! Living with Motor Neurone Disease.

"Even the ordinary everyday things that we all take for granted are difficult," the Birkenhead resident says.

"I've stopped wearing eye makeup because the mascara runs when I cry. Similarly lipstick doesn't last long because I'm continually biting my lips in a constant battle to control excess saliva."

Mrs Williams says as the condition weakens her muscles, it can cause her to laugh and cry more.

She also has a special feeding tube through the wall of the stomach, because she can only swallow a few sips of liquid at a time.

Sir Robert once said that from the age of four Barbara wanted to be a nurse.

She continued nursing until taking on the position of clinical research associate with a major pharmaceutical company in Sydney.

Now unable to speak, Mrs Williams has reluctantly returned home.

Her managerial role required her to travel around Australia and New Zealand, which became difficult. She now works from home in Birkenhead.

Her busy Sydney-based life meant she had little time to pick up on small symptoms of the disease including increasing cramps in her legs, toes and chest, a dry cough and the need to yawn at inappropriate times throughout the day.

She says one of the most frustrating things about her condition is not being able to say thank you when a kind stranger lends a helping hand.

"I feel awful. There are so many times in the course of a day that you want to say thanks. In the supermarket or shop, to taxi drivers, when someone holds the door open, etcetera."

Mrs Williams is launching her book, Losing My Voice, in Birkenhead on October 1.

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