LESS than two years ago, ME sufferer Cathy Pollendine would throw up with exhaustion if she so much as climbed the stairs.

Now, however, the 19-year-old is preparing for the trip of a lifetime, to study orang-utans in the rainforests of Borneo.

Cathy, of Thorpe Road in Tendring, was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue in November 2006, after a bout of flu.

This soon developed into myalgic encephalopathy (ME), leaving her too weak to even leave her bed at one point.

Now she is one of just 11 students who have been chosen to travel to the Tanjung Puting area of Borneo, where she will live with local tribes and study orang-utans in the wild, for 15 days from next week.

"I hope my story will be an inspiration for other ME sufferers," she said.