Mother's relief as daughter starts to talk for first time in 40 years

"They said she would never walk, talk or do anything. In fact she would be a cabbage - their words not mine," she says.

"As they were telling me this it seemed as if they were drifting away from us. I was clutching Lyndsey harder and harder and felt as if I loved her more and more, if that was possible. I said to them 'No, you're wrong. She will walk. She will, you'll see.' They just gave me pitying looks. I was devastated."

It is now 40 years since doctors broke the devastating news to the young mother, Pat's dedication to her 'perfect' daughter is as strong as it ever was. The break-up of her first marriage, the premature death of her second husband, and her own diagnosis with Crohn's disease and colitis have all taken their toll, but none have been able to weaken the bond between mother and daughter.

Lyndsey can now walk unaided, although she has to be pushed in a wheelchair when she is out of the house due to the likelihood of her suffering a seizure.

And since her drugs were changed last year, she has now started learning to talk for the first time.

"It is like a cloud has been lifted," says Pat.

"The first word she said was 'mum', and I could have cried. After 40 years, she is now learning to talk."

Pat, of Wingate Road, Walsall, said she first became aware of the problem when Lyndsey developed encephalitis, a severe inflammation of the brain.

"Our GP treated her for colic and because the encephalitis was left untreated, it caused massive brain damage and epilepsy," says Pat, who is now 59.

"She spent a week in hospital after her diagnosis. They ran a battery of tests and said she was suffering from a rare form of epilepsy called Salam Convulsions and these were caused by the encephalitis. She was the only case in 40 years to have this type of epilepsy at the hospital."

The following year, Pat spent months trying to get Lyndsey to walk up and down the hall of the family's flat.

"It was a really long hall and back-breaking," she says. Her husband told her to stop, saying it was unfair on Lyndsey, and she should just accept their daughter would never walk, but Pat refused to be beaten.

"It was almost a year later on her third birthday that my sister Debbie came to visit," she says.

"She opened the front door when we were at the other end of the hall and she said 'Come on Lyndsey!' and held her arms open.

"Imagine our shock as my little girl walked out of my arms the whole length of the hall right into Debbie's arms.

"We were screaming and laughing and crying all at the same time. The look on her Dad's face and the consultant's was priceless."

Sadly she parted from her husband in 1978.

"I was sad it had failed but we were too young and I don't suppose our daughter's problems helped matters. "

Although she was happy the next few years the stress of caring for Lindsey was taking its toll on Pat's health, and sometime around 1992 Pat was starting to feel ill.

"My GP then told me it was Irritable bowel syndrome and not to worry unless I started losing weight. Then it became constant and I was being sick 12 times a day. I lost two stone and when I went back to the doctor's he panicked and arranged for me to go to hospital.

"I had many more tests over the next year and lost six stone before they found out I had Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

"Everything I did revolved around where the nearest toilets where. I soldiered on looking after Lyndsey and gradually gained weight and some quality of life."

Two days after Christmas, 1997, Pat married her second husband, Keith, and she really thought she had met her soul mate.But within four years of tying the knot, Pat would be dealt another crushing blow.

"Keith almost choked to death whilst eating his tea one Saturday night," she recalls.

"I got him to the hospital and they checked him over and advised him to ask our GP to organise an endoscapy, which we did.

"But they couldn't get the camera down Keith's throat. It turned out he had cancer of the oesophogus and he only had a two per cent chance of survival.

"We were heartbroken."

Keith had two lots of Chemotherapy and an operation to remove part of his stomach. He appeared to rally, beginning to gain weight, and it seemed their lives might be getting back to normal once more. But two years later he collapsed in the street with pain from his kidneys.He had a long spell in hospital but sadly died in 2003.

Eleven years on from Keith's death, Pat's commitment to her daughter is as strong as ever.

There have difficulties, such as the bureaucracy of the social care system, yet for all the trials, Pat says she would never do things any differently.

And in the wake of National Carers Week, which has taken place this month, she has called on politicians to recognise the valuable role that carers such as herself perform.

"We save this country millions of pounds a year and the Government made us feel like benefit scroungers. It's outrageous."

And for all the heartache she has endured, Pat has an indomitable spirit which has seen her through both the good times and the bad.

"I am a stubborn woman. I like a pint of Guinness now and then and I like a good laugh. You can't spend your life being miserable can you?"