For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health…

I said this to Leanne more than 30 years ago; I meant it then and I mean it now. Plenty of us have said these words, and I bet few of us really thought about what they meant. Few of us really could.

Leanne asked me to write an article for her, providing some insights and perspectives from a carers point of view, so here it is, with the facts, the feelings; the dark and the light.

Caring for someone in a physically or mentally vulnerable situation can at times be a more draining, compromising and lonely experience than their afflicted charges bear. Our disabled are marginalised, and our carers are seriously overlooked. I discuss how we can all help the support people around us.

My life would be so unimaginably 'less than' without my wonderful, supportive, unpaid carer AKA my husband, Gaz. And like millions of unpaid and loving carers around the world he doesn't question his role because he's that kinda guy and we have always been a team. This caring role has ramped up in significance quite rapidly over the last few years in particular and has unquestionably come with compromises, some of which I have mentioned previously.