Hi everyone, I’m reaching out for help, and I’m feeling a bit embarrassed about it.

My name is Sascha, and I’m a 49-year-old wife and mother to two lovely teenagers, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old.

Now, here’s a bit of my backstory. I’ve been dealing with back issues since I was 14, but things took a turn when I was 3 months pregnant. I had a prolapsed disc, and due to the pregnancy, I couldn’t get the treatment I needed until after the birth.

I had surgery, and it seemed to fix the one issue, but unfortunately, it created others.

Since then I’ve been living with chronic pain. I had a relatively normal life for a while. I’d drive to work, take the kids to school, do a bit of socialising. On weekends, I’d try to rest in bed as much as I could.

Around 2016, I couldn’t walk unaided anymore and had to use a walking stick. In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, I was able to manage to walk up and down the stairs once a day using a walking stick, but that stopped after a while because it was too much for me.

Now, I’ve been completely bedridden for two years, and I can’t move both my legs. I’ve tried everything to get better from the NHS, but their final solution was a 3-day Zoom course teaching me breathing and physical exercises.

There’s only one person I’ve found at Cleveland Clinic London who thinks they can help me, but unfortunately, my medical insurance won’t pay for the treatment.

I’m feeling so hopeless. I used to be a really social person with lots of friends and was always going out. But this pain has turned me into someone who’s shut themselves off from everyone and everything.

I know it’s tough to ask when everyone else is struggling, but if you could donate, it would literally change my life. It would give me hope that I might be able to walk again someday, and hopefully get a handle on this pain.

Here’s the link to the facilities where they’ve offered me some hope.

https://clevelandcliniclondon.uk/clinical-institutes/rehabilitation/stroke-brain-injury

It includes one-on-one physiotherapy and occupational therapy every day, along with weekly Neuropsychology reviews.

On top of that, they offer speech therapy. I need it because I’ve been stammering really badly since December last year. We’re not sure if it’s because of trauma or if maybe I had a mini stroke (I haven’t had any tests to confirm, just a doctor’s observation).

Please share this far and wide and thank you so much for your time and consideration.