For Beryl Rushton it was a holiday in paradise. But it had tragic consequences which turned her life upside down. She spoke to JENNY SCOTT about her determination to fight back.

IT was a two-week break in the Caribbean sunshine that was supposed to give Beryl Rushton a winter boost. But Beryl was left fighting for her life after contracting gastroenteritis during her stay.

Today Beryl, from Accrington, is largely confined to a wheelchair and needs to take 23 different drugs every day to regulate her heart and blood.

However, she is determined to battle her way back to health. She has even managed to retain her sense of humour and, against all the odds, has produced a series of delightful children's books that are awaiting publication.

Beryl's ordeal began back in December 2001 when she and her former partner jetted off for a Christmas vacation.

She said: "You go on holiday to recharge your batteries. You don't expect something like this to happen."

Beryl was staying at the Puerto Plata resort, in the north of the Dominican Republic, when she first started to feel ill.

She said: "I was vomiting and haemorrhaging. I don't remember much, because I was so poorly for the last five days of the stay. I've had three boys and labour pains didn't feel as bad. I was terrified.

"It looked such a beautiful place. It looked like paradise. There was turquoise sea, palm trees. But I just felt so ill."

Beryl caught a Christmas Day flight back to Britain and was rushed straight from Manchester Airport to hospital.

She said: "I heard all these ambulance sirens and I remember thinking: 'God help them, whoever that poor soul is.'

"Then I realised it was me! I was lying there, in an ambulance. I don't remember much about it. I knew I was very poorly, but I had no idea how bad."

Doctors at Blackburn Royal Infirmary discovered the illness had attacked Beryl's brain, liver and pancreas. She even lost her sight temporarily.

After spending six weeks in the Infirmary's high dependency unit, she spent a further two weeks in critical care at Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital. She said: "I've been told I'm lucky to be here. Those hospital staff saved my life."

In the 15 months since she left hospital, Beryl, 59, has had to get used to life with severely limited mobility and occasional memory lapses.

Although she needs a walking stick to move from room to room and a wheelchair every time she leaves the house, Beryl has declined all attempts to install a stairlift in her home.

She said: "I think you can be too mollycoddled and I don't want to rely too much on mobility aids, although I know I need them. I've just learned to ride an electric scooter, although I haven't had the guts to go into any shops with it yet, in case I get stuck!

"I think more shops should make the effort to be wheelchair-friendly. I went into a bookseller's with my friend just recently and she was having to move displays out of the way to help me get past. I was going to apologise, but then I thought: 'Why should I?'

"Those wheels are disabled people's legs. Why shouldn't we be able to move around in shops?"

Perhaps even more frustrating for Beryl are the memory lapses she has become prone to.

She said: "I used to lecture on memory techniques at Accrington and Rossendale College. It really is frustrating to find I can't remember things now.

"The illness went right through my brain. I'm a person who has had to accept and adapt.

"I'm constantly having to make lists and write things down, just so I remember what I'm doing from day to day."

Despite these frustrations, Beryl has been able to pick up the threads of the active life she led before her illness.

Aside from working as a college lecturer at Blackburn and Accrington, she was a successful novelist and, since her illness, she has completed several more stories.

She said: "I love writing. I've written a number of children's stories, which I've tried to make educational as well. I've also made notes of everything that happened to me on holiday, which I'm trying to turn into a book."

Mother-of-three Beryl is convinced she could not have got through her illness without the help of family, friends, and various support groups.

"I couldn't have survived the last 17 months without my friends and my sons. Without them I would not be thinking so positively now.

"The people from Age Concern, Homewise and the Dial-a-Ride bus drivers have all become new friends. They have carried out numerous small jobs for me in a very caring manner."

Life still holds its setbacks for Beryl. She said: "I'm still doing a lot of falling -- and that's without any alcohol. There are days when my over-zealous independence gets the better of me and I end up staring at the carpet from a very close proximity."

But she is determined to recover from the illness that has dogged her for nearly 18 months.

She said: "I will get better completely. Recovery, for me, would mean not needing a wheelchair, although it may have to be a walking frame."

One of Beryl's most euphoric moments since she contracted the illness came on New Year's Eve last year.

She said: "One of my friends was visiting me and she helped me to the window so I could see the fireworks.

"As I was watching them, I remembered someone patting my hand and saying: 'Don't worry -- it's only fireworks.'

"That must been a memory from the previous New Year, which I'd spent in hospital. It's so strange the way something like that can trigger your memory."