Hi I am Erin, Fiadh’s mum.

Fiadh is 20 and suffers from dissociative seizures, temporary paralysis, functional tic attacks which have lasted over 72 hours at a time, functional abdominal pain and functional vomiting, loss of speech, issues with vocal cords and throat, collapses, functional pain and loss of mobility, swallowing issues and a multitude of other functional problems.

fiadh is diagnosed with DID (dissociative identity disorder)

Fiadh has been on the waiting list for the FND (functional neurological disorder) clinic at Queens Square neuro centre in London for over 18 months with no sign of being seen.

these issues leave Fiadh confined to their bed most of the time and needing to use a wheelchair and be carried up and down stairs due to the severity of their issues

both myself and my husband have had to give up work to care for Fiadh around the clock so are unable to fund any private assessments.

we want to take Fiadh to see Professor Mark Edwards, who is a Professor of Neurology and interface disorders who offers a private clinic at the Wellington hospital in London

We wish for Fiadh to have a functional MRI which costs approximately £1200 as this will detect what a standard MRI cannot in terms of identifying what areas of the brain are doing during these episodes.

having a diagnosis of FND would enable Fiadh to understand what is happening when they have these terrifying episodes and would offer a roadmap to professionals who simply don’t know or understand enough about this condition or how to begin treating it.

a recent experience at A&E at UCLH in London this week when Fiadh had been ticking for 72 hours and hit their head off the wall 4 times during the consultation a Doctor said “this is not for A&E it is too complex” so now we need to have this diagnosis so we don’t meet these barriers on our many visits to any professionals

if you can help us in any way to achieve this and help Fiadh have some quality of life we would be eternally grateful.

this may sound dramatic but I just want answers for Fiadh and to help them to manage better day to day

thank you for reading

much love xx