Please help Kate reach a CRPS-Pain-Free Life
Donation protected
(Video made by Tara Di Marco)
My name is Kate Rider and I need your help.
About 4.5 years ago, while on a student exchange to Japan, I developed an invisible disease medically known as “Complex Regional Pain Syndrome” which has left me in crippling pain ever since. It has effected my daily life and presently has me taking more than 15 different medications 4 times a day just to try and gain even a little bit of normality back.
CRPS is the most painful disorder known to humans and as such is colloquially referred to “The Suicide Disease”. Below you can see the ‘McGill Pain Scale’, which puts this into perspective among other painful ailments.
CRPS affects one or more limbs, typically after an injury (like mine in Japan). For a luckier group of sufferers with CRPS, the pain they experience doesn't spread any further than the injury site. For a smaller handful like myself, though, the pain spreads to other parts of their body - i.e. other limbs and/or internal body systems (such as the Gastrointestinal system to which mine has affected). The brain fails to remove the pain response subsequent to the injury having healed, which sends the body into a constant loop of intensely magnified pain.
Wind, rain, heavy clothing are just the start in what makes a day harder to cope with. Hugs, pools and thick clothing feels like a mixture of compressing machines, drilling through muscle and bones, and bone breaking (as if my body were a Pringle chip accidentally crushed). I often have to plan my days incredibly wisely to ensure if any traveling or noisy environments send me into a flare, that I have leeway to recover - the vibrations of music and car rides, as well as crashes or loud clinks of crockery reverberate through my body and frequently has me writhing in sudden spikes of pain which, in turn, drain me of the little energy I started the day with.
Amongst my list of symptoms, my affected limbs (these days all of them) often cycle through a series of colour changes - between becoming blue, purple, red, or even a blotchy series of these. They also swell to various differing degrees. Below are only a few of the photos that we've taken over time.
(early 2018, while my pain average was about a 4/10, my affected area was limited to the upper left quadrant of my body, front and back... my left shoulder, arm & hand - in comparison to my unaffected right side at the time). Some time after this photo was taken I also experienced severe weakness to my left leg and had to drag that around for approximately 8-9 months, using a scarf around my knee. A few months after regaining more function in my left leg, the pain had then spread to the leg also.
(February of 2021, after standing for about 5 or so minutes to brush my teeth and wash my face - I had to lay on the tiles of my bathroom as I began to experience an episode of vertigo from my low blood pressure issues, alongside an increase in pain due to prolonged standing)
(one of my mildest moments in hospital a few weeks ago)
(about 5-10 minutes later - even with continual intentional movements of these limbs - and no, this isn't just the lighting)
My family and I started this fundraiser because we had heard of the “Spero Clinic”. I have been to numerous Rehab clinics here, and they suggest exercise, but they can't do anymore than that and medication. I want to get off all medication, I need to get into remission.
https://www.thesperoclinic.com
It’s motto “While I breathe, I hope”, the Spero Clinic is an integrative wellness practice in Arkansas, USA who have reportedly used out-of-the-box treatment methods to send CRPS patients into pain remission - which is the best that CRPS patients can hope for in the absence of a cure.
I've spent 4 years unable to hug anyone, (not even my Parents can hug me). I can't shake hands, listen to music or movies at a 'normal' volume (constantly adjusting it as if my pain depended on it – because it does), or carry out the second half of my teen years as any other kid would. Now, I just hope for a full night sleep, a solid meal, and blankets that sit on top of my skin & warm me in Winter.
I’m hoping, with your help, we can get to this incredible clinic and I can finally resume an adventure filled life without pain; like every 21-year-old should be able to do.
Thank you so much for your support,
Kate Rider + Family xxx
My name is Kate Rider and I need your help.
About 4.5 years ago, while on a student exchange to Japan, I developed an invisible disease medically known as “Complex Regional Pain Syndrome” which has left me in crippling pain ever since. It has effected my daily life and presently has me taking more than 15 different medications 4 times a day just to try and gain even a little bit of normality back.
CRPS is the most painful disorder known to humans and as such is colloquially referred to “The Suicide Disease”. Below you can see the ‘McGill Pain Scale’, which puts this into perspective among other painful ailments.
CRPS affects one or more limbs, typically after an injury (like mine in Japan). For a luckier group of sufferers with CRPS, the pain they experience doesn't spread any further than the injury site. For a smaller handful like myself, though, the pain spreads to other parts of their body - i.e. other limbs and/or internal body systems (such as the Gastrointestinal system to which mine has affected). The brain fails to remove the pain response subsequent to the injury having healed, which sends the body into a constant loop of intensely magnified pain.
Wind, rain, heavy clothing are just the start in what makes a day harder to cope with. Hugs, pools and thick clothing feels like a mixture of compressing machines, drilling through muscle and bones, and bone breaking (as if my body were a Pringle chip accidentally crushed). I often have to plan my days incredibly wisely to ensure if any traveling or noisy environments send me into a flare, that I have leeway to recover - the vibrations of music and car rides, as well as crashes or loud clinks of crockery reverberate through my body and frequently has me writhing in sudden spikes of pain which, in turn, drain me of the little energy I started the day with.
Amongst my list of symptoms, my affected limbs (these days all of them) often cycle through a series of colour changes - between becoming blue, purple, red, or even a blotchy series of these. They also swell to various differing degrees. Below are only a few of the photos that we've taken over time.
(early 2018, while my pain average was about a 4/10, my affected area was limited to the upper left quadrant of my body, front and back... my left shoulder, arm & hand - in comparison to my unaffected right side at the time). Some time after this photo was taken I also experienced severe weakness to my left leg and had to drag that around for approximately 8-9 months, using a scarf around my knee. A few months after regaining more function in my left leg, the pain had then spread to the leg also. (February of 2021, after standing for about 5 or so minutes to brush my teeth and wash my face - I had to lay on the tiles of my bathroom as I began to experience an episode of vertigo from my low blood pressure issues, alongside an increase in pain due to prolonged standing)(one of my mildest moments in hospital a few weeks ago)(about 5-10 minutes later - even with continual intentional movements of these limbs - and no, this isn't just the lighting)My family and I started this fundraiser because we had heard of the “Spero Clinic”. I have been to numerous Rehab clinics here, and they suggest exercise, but they can't do anymore than that and medication. I want to get off all medication, I need to get into remission.
https://www.thesperoclinic.com
It’s motto “While I breathe, I hope”, the Spero Clinic is an integrative wellness practice in Arkansas, USA who have reportedly used out-of-the-box treatment methods to send CRPS patients into pain remission - which is the best that CRPS patients can hope for in the absence of a cure.
I've spent 4 years unable to hug anyone, (not even my Parents can hug me). I can't shake hands, listen to music or movies at a 'normal' volume (constantly adjusting it as if my pain depended on it – because it does), or carry out the second half of my teen years as any other kid would. Now, I just hope for a full night sleep, a solid meal, and blankets that sit on top of my skin & warm me in Winter.
I’m hoping, with your help, we can get to this incredible clinic and I can finally resume an adventure filled life without pain; like every 21-year-old should be able to do.
Thank you so much for your support,
Kate Rider + Family xxx
Co-organizers (4)
Sue Rider
Organizer
Roxburgh Park, VIC
Graeme Rider
Beneficiary
Kate Rider
Co-organizer
Laura Rider
Co-organizer
Graeme Rider
Co-organizer