AN Appleton singer has made a video to raise awareness of the rare condition that her boyfriend’s mum suffers from.

Jane Houghton, who fell ill in 2001, felt suicidal after doctors were unable to diagnose her illness and she was forced to trawl the internet to find out what was wrong with her.

Jane Houghton, aged 46, of Willow Lane, Appleton, later found out she suffered from Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS), which she contracted after going on a boating holiday in Palma, Spain, with friends.

She returned from her holiday to find that she was having difficulty recovering her ‘land legs’.

Jane said: “The sensation of being on a rough sea was constant, even when lying down in bed.”

After visiting her GP Jane, who is married to Neil, was referred to neurologists at Warrington and Liverpool hospitals, but nobody could figure out what was wrong with her.

It was only after searching online that Jane found an American website about MdDS.

In September 2002, she was professionally diagnosed at the National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery in London.

Now talented Hayley Wilkinson, who goes out with Jane’s son Ben, aged 21, has helped highlight the illness by singing a version of 1970s song Rock the Boat, by Hues Corporation, with the finished version uploaded on to Youtube last week, attracting more than 1,200 hits and counting.

Hayley’s mum Judith, who lives on Shepperton Close with her 21-year-old daughter, said: “Hayley was happy to help out to raise the profile of MdDS as not many people know what it is.”

Jane, a part-time office manager in Knutsford, helps educate people about MdDS via a website and support group. She added: “We changed the song’s original lyrics to words that descibed what it’s like to have this condition. Hayley did a splendid job and I’m really pleased with it.”