Composing let Maddy see beyond illness

Mar 17 2008 by Audrey Barton, The Journal

:: To hear all of the Music Means Life finalists click here

A YOUNG woman suffering from ME has described how she has transformed her life by expressing herself through music.

Maddy Stuckey, 20, has written a song about strength, hope and determination that has now made it through to the final of Music Means Life.

The former Northumbria University student wrote When Tomorrow Comes with her father Phil when her illness – myalgic encephalomyelitis – left her bed ridden for six months.

She said: “Music has meant a lot to me and has helped me recover from my illness.

“I really started taking it seriously when I fell ill and that is when I recorded the album.

“I really believe it brought me through and gave me something to focus on.”

After struggling to complete her A-levels because the illness was making it increasingly hard for her to concentrate she was then forced to leave university in her first year.

Constant headaches and insomnia made it impossible to walk to the lecture hall.

Maddy was diagnosed with ME by a specialist and spent the next six months recovering in bed at home in Watershaugh Road, Warkworth, near Alnwick. She said: “It is about how down and tired I felt and that I understood how this illness was affecting people around me.

“But I didn’t want people to push me to get better. I wanted to get better in my own time.

“I’ve always known I’ve got lots I want to achieve, but I knew I needed to recuperate.”

Maddy has now realised her dream of running her own business after she opened Hexham boutique Mariposa Couture with her mother one year ago.

And despite a relapse two months ago, she has now reached the final stage of the competition, which is helping to raise £1m for a new teenage cancer unit at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Finalists will perform in front of 3,000 people hoping to impress judges and many guests from record labels, agencies and the entertainment industry.

Maddy said: “I saw the competition as a great opportunity to help people my own age again.

“I thought a chance of a full-time career in music is exciting.”