The husband of a popular former English teacher has paid tribute to his wife after her book on the struggles of motor neurone disease was republished.

Lindy Jones, who was head of English at Edmonton County School until 2005, died on May 29, after a four-year battle with the debilitating disease.

The 58-year-old's book The Voice in My Head is Perfect, which documents the struggles of living with the disease, was recently republished by Ashgrove publishers.

In the book, Mrs Jones uses comedy and harrowing descriptions to document her battle with the disease.

The progressive disease attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord and gradually affects how patients walk, talk, eat, drink and breathe.

Her husband Gareth, of Livingstone Road, Palmers Green, told the Enfield Independent that the whole family has been in mourning since her death and described his wife as a “huge personality.”

He said: “It has been awful, she was an incredibly huge personality and she would sit there and tap with one finger telling us what to do. She was becoming really depressed because it was the last movement in her body.

“She was such a vivacious and verbal person, her voice was the most important thing she had.”

He added: “The book took her 18 months and was first published in November 2012. All profits went to the MND association and it sold around 4,000 copies, which was fantastic.

“The book is a history lesson of the family, about her teaching career and what happens when you get MND. She gave the disease a name, Mildred, and she would have conversations with Mildred throughout the book.

“It is a very engaging book, and very easy to read.”

Mrs Jones has also left two sons Owen and Robbie. Robbie described his stand-out moment from the book in the chapter “living days” where Mrs Jones describes her sons as “precious boys” and says: “how hard it will be to leave you.”

He added: “It is one of the most frightening diseases in the world and one that is not known, it’s reasonably rare. I always described it as the inverse lottery.”

Gareth also paid tribute to their mother's dog, Scrappy, who features prominently in the book.
He said: “The dog was her retirement present. We picked him out from thousands at Battersea and I have no doubt he was one of the catalysts for the book.”

The book is available on Amazon Kindle with all proceeds going to the MND Association.