Adie's skin condition

We are starting this crowd funder for our friend, Adie who is struggling with a severe skin condition. Adie is a really positive and resilient person, usually full of energy and a zest for life. She is an Outdoor Education teacher who loves being in nature, sea swimming and walking. She is originally from New Zealand and loves freedom and adventure. Adie lives in a Cotswold village and is a single parent with one daughter. She is used to coping with whatever life throws at her without the safety net that many of us take for granted of a partner, extended family or money. Adie has a great community around her, but she is used to sorting things out for herself and she finds it hard to ask for and accept help.

Adie’s mysterious and unpredictable skin condition has been getting progressively worse and more debilitating as the months have gone by. Adie is covered with painful inflamed lesions and spots, some of which are weeping and raw. It started last year with a small lesion that developed into a rash covering the front of both legs. It has since covered her entire body, with new spots emerging all the time. In January, her GP diagnosed severe discoid excema that is not responding to treatment. Recently multiple allergies have been suggested ,and she has been told that it is an auto inflammatory process.

Over the course of the last 8 or 9 months Adie has become more and more restricted in what she can do. She is now unable to work and is often confined to the house. Her painful skin means she can only wear loose clothing and flip flops; sometimes she cannot have any material touching her skin, as the open sores stick to it. Her skin is constantly stinging and itching, especially when she lies down at night or moves about the house. There is no clear pattern to this erratic skin condition, which sometimes improves slightly, only to quickly deteriorate again. This situation is intolerable, and with no end in sight it is having an adverse effect on Adie's mental health.

The only treatment the GP can offer is stronger and stronger steroids – and steroids are supposed to be a short term treatment, not a cure. Adie has been applying steroids since the end of January and all the specialists say she has been on them too long. Each time she tries to reduce/come off steroids the sores/rash becomes worse than ever.

Adie’s focus has always been to try and find the root cause of her skin condition and treat this. She has spent a lot of time and money researching her condition, consulting different health practitioners and doing what she can at home . She has tried numerous treatments and therapies including homeopathy, naturopathy, nutritionist and the NHS. She has paid for supplements, a gut analysis, special clothing, creams, shampoos etc. A recent allergy test showed she had become highly allergic to cats, so Adie had to re-home her much loved cat. She has had to get rid of furniture, bedding and clothing to remove any cat dander. She also paid for a deep clean of her house and an air purifier. The impact of all these costs on her limited funds is of great concern to Adie. She has been receiving some sick pay from her teaching job, but this halved in June and will end in August. Unless her condition dramatically improves and she can return to work, she will then need to apply for statutory Sick Pay as she has no other income.

Adie's friends have set up this crowdfunder as we can see that Adie’s financial worries are affecting her ability to explore treatment options that could help, as well as restricting her life even further. For example she feels unable to spend money on things for pleasure that might lift her mood. This is all on top of the usual stress and worry of running a household and having been unable to keep on top of maintenance jobs etc. Having a little extra money for her health from this crowdfunder will enable Adie to explore other treatments and keep her to focus on managing her horrible skin condition. We can all see what an incredibly difficult situation she is in and we want to help her in any way we can.

Money from this Crowdfunder will be spent on….

• Allergy testing (food)

• Photo therapy

• Psychotherapy

• Replacing household furniture and equipment (due to allergies)

• Special diet and supplements

• Specialist expenses and treatments