A Slough woman with an incurable lung disease hosted a special event aimed at raising awareness for invisible illnesses.

Jay Virdee suffers from the rare disease scleroderma. In total, only 12,000 people across the country suffer from the disease. The disease causes the immune system to attack healthy tissue in the body, generating excess collagen which results in scarring in tendons, joints and internal organs.

Jay suffers from a type of the disease called systemic sclerosis, which directly affects the internal organs, in particular her lungs. It has meant she has had to completely change her way of life. It has robbed her of her former life, where she worked as a teacher and loved to stay in shape, going to the gym upwards of five times a week.

The event was held at Nuffield Health in Stoke Poges and gave gym-goers the opportunity to talk to representatives from the British Lung Foundation who gave advice about the best way to keep them healthy alongside hearing Jay’s story.

Jay also underwent the first workout of a guided fitness plan, specially designed to help her remain active whilst suffering from her condition. Speaking at the event, Jay said:

“Coming back to Nuffield Health is sentimental to me. It was my former life, I used to spend five days a week here. It was the former me with my former lungs. Now I have this lung condition, it gives me a place to come and be in the community . It can become quite socially isolating when you have a lung condition.

“When you have got multiple conditions, it becomes difficult to juggle. You’re dealing with an auto-immune condition, chronic pain, fatigue, additional symptoms and depression.”

Charlie Grey from the British Lung Foundation added:

“One in five people have a lung condition and yet it is still not really a priority. We are campaigning to make them a priority. There are great support groups in place to bring people together who have lung diseases to be there for one another but more needs to be done from the government.

“A lot of conditions are can be mentally debilitating as well, people who have healthy lungs do not think about breathing every second of every day. If you can’t be doing that, it can be incredibly anxiety invoking.”

If you wish to donate to Jay’s Fight, her fundraising page can be found here.