Romayne sadly resigned as a trustee in January.  She has several conditions which have made it difficult for her to travel in the past, but she rarely missed a meeting.  She now finds that air travel is actually making her condition worse and so has decided that her time and energy need to be spent improving her health.

Romayne began support for people in Northern Ireland 11 years ago and FMSNI continues to flourish thanks to her efforts. In 1997 she was invited to become a trustee of Fibromyalgia Association UK and has worked tirelessly in this capacity also.  At first her main job was to represent NI at a national level, but her IT skills were soon used to help set up our first website.  She has always been very incisive in her thinking and always put the good of, and advancement of, FMAUK at the forefront of her thoughts and suggestions.  Her latest task has been to ensure our quality policies are in place.  This was a particularly difficult task as information is not in any one place or with any one person.

She is a very determined lady, as is shown by her other achievements.  It all started with a flight simulator program!  Romayne was so hooked on this she decided to look into the possibility of actually learning to fly.  There were many obstacles in her way, including the drugs that she was taking at the time, as well as her actual conditions.  She managed to persuade the Douglas Bader Trust, which arranges flying lessons for people with disabilities to sponsor her.  Not only did they arrange for the flying lessons, but arranged it in South Africa.  Of course, it was hard work, as it was an intensive course with theory as well as the practical flying sessions.  In the end Romayne managed to fly solo and has her certificate to prove it.  Whenever she flew from Belfast she tried to get into the cockpit and sometimes was privileged to be allowed to travel in the jump seat.  Not being able to travel by air is a real blow to her, not just an inconvenience.

In her spare time Romayne makes the most wonderful cards and these are always a delight to receive.  She is often helped or should that be hindered by her cats.  These are another passion of hers and were both rescued by Romayne’s loving care and expertise from her veterinary nurse training.

Our thoughts are with Romayne as she tackles her latest mission and we hope to hear some better news from her soon.  We thank her for all her help, encouragement and the brilliant example she has set for everyone trying to achieve their goals.