Outbreak ruined survivor's life

The outbreak was traced to the Forum 28 centre in Barrow

Barrow Legionnaires' disease survivor Brenda Sedgwick says she hates what the illness has done to her.

Ms Sedgwick, 55, from Ulverston, says at times she wishes she could have become the eighth person to die.

"It's just the tablets that keep me going now," she said. "It's only the fact that I was very fit at the time that I survived at all."

Ms Sedgwick said she wanted someone to be held responsible for the deaths and for leaving her in a debilitated state.

Ms Sedgwick, who lives with her partner Barry Bachelor, says she has never received an apology or acknowledgment of her suffering from any public body.

She was diagnosed with the disease nine days before the outbreak was made public.

I was always a fighter, but now I am so weak and all I want is to stay in these four walls Brenda Sedgwick

She has been left on a cocktail of medication, with a perpetual feeling of lethargy.

Of the moment she became ill, she said: "I thought I just had flu and took myself off to bed.

"But I didn't get any better and eventually phoned the hospital and was admitted."

She criticised council officials, saying: "I've never had any sort of 'sorry' from anyone."

Ms Sedgwick said her life now revolved around medication and sleep.

'Better off dead'

She said: "This has just left me so tired. I'm on tablets all the time. I'd love to just go out and have a drink and a dance. But I know I can't because I get so tired.

"The high point of my day now is getting dressed, having something to eat, then taking my tablets and going to bed.

"I was always a fighter, but now I am so weak and all I want is to stay in these four walls. It's so boring.

"I can't even cope with my grandchildren. None of this is my fault. It's not my fault I have to take £20 worth of tablets a week.

"Sometimes I think I would be better off dead.

"The words Legionnaires' disease just means a living hell to me now."