Hi I'm Kim and thanks for checking out my gofundme. I’ve been battling with medical issues since 2017 and I've reached absolute desperation and I'm turning to the internet for help.

The short version that I posted on Twitter: The amount of money I need in the next 4-5 weeks for medical appointments is the equivalent of 5 months of Jobseeker payments as long as I don't pay any bills or eat.

I found out my disability claim was rejected again. I had already supplied a huge amount of evidence to them but somehow I got the exact same score I did in 2018 - 10 out 20 points. You need 20 points to allegedly be accepted. They gave me 10 points again for my spine but have given me 0 for mental health despite having four reports from three different psychologists stating the severity of my issues. I was told I had 13 weeks to get more “evidence”.

This is where the issues started.

Right now, I'm having one of those "when it rains, it pours" moments only this seems to be never-ending the last few years. I’m on Jobseeker payments and trying to afford to see a specialist is hard enough at the best of times but in the last few years I’ve seen a spine surgeon, psychologists, 2x neurologists, physio, cardiologist, dermatologist, 2x rheumatologists, 2x pain management and I still need to see people. Last year I had so many appointments I reached the Medicare threshold by July and I didn’t even know that was a thing. I can’t say it saved me money though, it just made it easier to pay for all the appointments I had.

I was trying to better my situation with Jobseeker because the only way I can try working is at home, but I need a computer. I used to be a photographer (which I do rarely now as a hobby) but I'm pretty good at photo restoration. I worked out I can apply for a NILS loan but I needed to be able to make up the difference first. They highest loan you can get is $1500 which they pay the store directly but only if I’ve settled the difference first.

So far this year I've paid for expensive dermatology tests, regular psychologist appointments and I paid to see the spine surgeon I’ve seen since 2017 and was told I need to get my GP or pain management to fill out the forms as they’re my main treating doctors. The problem is my GP of 10 years left and then the clinic was losing my medical reports so I haven't had my new GP long enough and pain management were closed for a few months because of the rise in local covid cases. This is a big problem with applying for disability in general, all evidence needs to be within 2 years old and there’s no allowance for how long it takes to see specialists or have hospital appointments in the public sector, especially during a pandemic.

When the pain management clinic reopened I made an appointment and was told because it was a new doctor I’d be seeing, I have to pay the $350 initial consult fee. It had taken me so long to save $300 towards my computer goal I didn’t want to just lose it on a medical appointment so I started selling furniture or anything else I could think of online. So far I’ve made $270. Someone asked me why I don’t just get the Centrelink loan but if I do that then I’m stuck repaying it for six months and I can’t get the loan for a computer.

Then someone recommended I see an OT, that it would help me anyway but that an OT assessment would help with my claim. A friend insisted they were going to advocate for me and had information to help me with my claim and to get a free OT assessment but then I’d go weeks without hearing from her. She just ignores my messages. My GP gave me an OT careplan and when I tried to follow it up found out one hour of OT is $233 and Medicare only gives you about $55 back. To clarify, I only get $490 on Jobseeker for a fortnight. There’s no way I can afford it so I haven’t made an appointment.

With the 13 weeks up for my claim, I rang Centrelink and told them about everything and asked about appealing. I also asked in regards to one medical report I never submitted (while part of it is helpful, over half of it is wrong) and she told me because it’s now officially older than 2 years I can’t include it anyway so I need to see another rheumatologist for a new report. She said if nothing else it shows Centrelink and those in DSP that I’m still seeing specialists. So now I have to find money for another Rheumatologist which is around $250-300.

The cherry on top was finding out I also need a root canal or lose my tooth and my health insurance won’t cover it until December 22nd. Despite being with them since 2012, because I upgraded my plan last December I have to wait 12 months before I can use “major dental”. The total cost for dental work is $1469.

I’m meant to come up with money for all of these things within the next month and I just can’t do it. I have nothing left to sell except my desk, that I’m considering selling my camera but I wouldn’t sell it fast enough and it wouldn’t cover even half of these bills anyway. This is taking a huge toll on my mental health and I need any help I can get. I see people asking for financial help on social media all the time so I thought I’d give it a go myself. If you've read this far, thank you!