BEING told you have only got a few years to live is everyone's worst nightmare.

For Hazel, that nightmare became a reality four years ago and now motor neurone disease (MND) has left the once-active 74-year-old without the use of her legs, her right arm, her speech and she can no longer swallow properly, so eating is via a peg in her stomach.

But, worst of all, is Hazel is fully aware of this condition that little by little is taking away her life.

"When they told me I had three to five years to live I was shattered," says Hazel, who communicates by pushing a stick in her left hand onto letters on a computer.

MND affects about two people in 100,000 each year. It is a progressive neuro-degenerative disease that attacks the upper and lower motor neurones of the brain.

It is a terminal illness that leads to muscle weakness and wasting, causing loss of mobility in the limbs and difficulties with speech, swallowing and breathing.

Hazel says: "It's a very cruel disease and no two people are the same. No-one can tell you how and why you've got it either – it's awful."

Through it all, however, it is Hazel's positive attitude and the devotion of husband Leslie, Hazel's sole carer, that is truly inspiring.

A nurse most of her life at Cranage Hall Hospital, near Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, Hazel was used to an active lifestyle before MND struck.

In retirement, the couple had travelled the country to offer a pet-sitting service.

"The effect it can have is dramatic and devastating," says Leslie, aged 79, who married Hazel in 1959, after getting together following a night out at the Ritz dance hall in Manchester. The couple have two children, five grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

"We were in Stratford when Hazel came downstairs saying she wasn't feeling too good," Leslie recalls.

"We went out for a drive for some fresh air, but when she got out of the car and started walking we noticed her toes were bleeding. Her feet had just dropped and that was the start of it."

That was in June 2006 and by Christmas that year Hazel was in a wheelchair.

Even so, it still took 14 months and several private consultations before a diagnosis of MND was given.

Hazel says: "The symptoms were similar to Parkinson's disease to begin with and for a long time that is what they kept saying it was.

"We ended up going private, because we didn't feel we were getting anywhere, and that's when they told us it was motor neurone disease."

Leslie says: "When we were told they said it was terminal and there was nothing they could do.

"They don't know much about the illness, but they don't think it's hereditary, which is good for us, because we have children and grandchildren to think about."

Contracting such a debilitating disease that has stripped Hazel of her independence was devastating for the couple and their family, but the physical and emotional strains of the illness were not the only things they had to come to terms with.

Leslie explains: "No-one told us of help available or what we were entitled to, as it can be exhausting.

"We had to move from our house in Middlewich to a rented bungalow in Alsager that was more suitable for us and when we did pay for someone to come in and help wash Hazel and clean the house, I wasn't happy with it.

"I don't think anyone can care for her like I do."

Eventually, help did come in the form of the Alsager and District Palliative Daycentre, which the couple attend at Church Lawton Memorial Hall each Tuesday.

Hazel says: "Leslie is marvellous and I don't think I would be here without him, but the day centre is a godsend for both of us.

"A lady came to see us and asked what help we had received and we told her that really we had just been left to get on with our lives.

"She said we wouldn't be left anymore and from then on we have had all the help we needed."

Looking to the future, no-one knows for definite how long Hazel has left, as the disease threatens to stop her lungs from working.

"I'm not frightened of the disease anymore, but I am scared of choking," she says, "but the thing is, you have to get busy living with it, rather than dying from it."

For details about the Alsager and District Palliative Daycentre, which meets every Monday and Tuesday, call Kath Knight on 07754 505455.