Hi everyone,

I am Josey and after my third covid19 vaccination in February 2022, I developed a heart issue called pericarditis. My initial recovery was a few weeks, but I went on a journey to lose 75kilos and get my health on track.

In May 2023, I had a second round of pericarditis, while recovering from a bowel surgery that took months to get over and I was off work for several weeks that time around. Again I continued to do my best to focus on my health and I thought I had made a lot of progress.

However on 1 June 2024 I have relapsed again with my third round of pericarditis and was hospitalised for 2 weeks and have not been able to return to work as yet. This time, there is damage to my heart, scarring to my pericardium, and I have also been diagnosed with a central nervous system condition called Fibromyalgia.

I am experiencing irregular heart rhythms, erratic blood pressure (extreme highs and lows even when sitting or laying down), hypoglycaemic blood sugar events, severe chest pain, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances, and I cannot currently work due to my illness and the doctors say my recovery for my heart condition will be several months with a long term prognosis that means reduced activity for me and low impact for the rest of my life. This means I am not allowed to exercise or do anything strenuous/high stress. At the moment I cannot drive and can barely care for myself beyond the basics of the hierarchy of needs.

My loving partner Paul is doing so much not only for me, but also for our 11 year old to keep things moving and I’m so grateful for his strength, kindness and calm.

To top things off, I am unable to access income protection until I have been off work for three months and while my condition is debilitating; it is not recognised as a disability and I am falling through the cracks for supports.

There is a vaccine injury claim I can submit but it is lengthy and will take time, which means we still have a gap in the mean time.

I am not giving up tho: I am determine to fight back, be as fit and healthy as I can; but that means I need time, access to the right services and supports. Even tho Paul and I live a rich and full life this has caught us off guard, and we are in a very humbling position of financial hardship at this time and are experiencing higher outgoings than incomings to make ends meet on medical costs and living costs until my income protection takes effect.

It’s going to be a long road and there are still lots of things to work through around my longer term health, and already some grief has crept in as I face uncertainty because love what I do, professionally and socially, however I am leveraging all my system thinking and complex problem solving skills so that I can lean in to this as a new adaptive challenge to overcome.

Transparency is a key value for me, along with visibility and accountability. With this in mind I want to share a list of the products and services that your donation will help with in this time:

I will share updates and be transparent with how we go along the way and milestones that we hit.

One day when my luck turns around and I have the ability to pay this forward again, I will certainly do so - as I always have for others before.

We just need to get through to 15 September and then we should be back on track again. We are also looking in to other means to cover the gaps but some of these take time to resolve.

In closing, it is with great humility I ask that you only donate if it will not leave you short. If you can help other ways, like dropping off a meal or doing school run; even helping with some washing or cleaning I would be so grateful because at this time I can’t do those things that I took for granted.

Pericarditis 1: Feb 2022

What is Pericarditis?

Pericarditis is swelling and irritation of the thin, saclike tissue surrounding the heart. This tissue is called the pericardium. Pericarditis often causes sharp chest pain. The chest pain occurs when the irritated layers of the pericardium rub against each other.

Development of pericarditis and myocarditis was a known side effect of the Covid19 Vaccine which I now have on an ongoing and recurring basis, which has progressed to chronic constrictive pericarditis.

Chronic constrictive pericarditis usually develops slowly and lasts longer than three months, which is the case for me.

Constrictive pericarditis is a condition where the walls of the fluid-filled pouch around your heart, the pericardium, become too stiff or thick. That keeps your heart from beating properly and can cause severe complications over time.

In my Cardiac MRI, the doctors also identified issues with two of the valves in my heart which must be monitored closely in the future as well.

Our family on a healthy day in November 2023:

Before my weight loss in 2022 (after first pericarditis event)

Me two weeks before I ended up in hospital - living my best life at work with a former colleague

Me travelling in Japan Feb 2024 - feeling good - I want to get back to feeling like this again