***UPDATE: You beauties have given me my freedom back! I have enough to buy a good quality mobility scooter with insurance, thank you so much! Any extra will go towards other aids and care for my disability.***

This time last year, I had just started a hiking group. Having grown up on the hills, I love all things wild and being out in nature feeds my soul.

That hiking group started with around 10 people, we now get around 40 people joining us to socialise and build connections outdoors. The group is especially friendly to those of us who are a bit different, and find it hard to make authentic connections.

I'm so proud of what we achieved, but sadly I can no longer join my friends on our monthly hikes.

I used to work an active job as a gardener. I used to enjoy going to the gym with my partner, canoeing and kayaking, rambling around gardens and castles. But I can't do any of that anymore.

Why? Because in January 2025, I started feeling tired, right to my bones. Getting through the day felt like running a marathon with a hangover. I was soon diagnosed with ME/CFS, a debilitating and incurable condition. Soon I was so fatigued and in pain that I couldn't cook, shower regularly, do any housework or, sadly, continue working.

To add insult to injury, I also have suspected PoTS, a condition that means I cannot stand or walk for long without risking fainting and feeling unbearably ill. By early April, I was essentially housebound. With barely any income, living on my own and parenting.

But something made a huge difference to my life - mobility aids. A generous friend helped me buy a second hand mobility scooter, which opened up the world for me again. I could go shopping, explore on days out, take my child to the park. I was so happy to have a little bit of my freedom back.

Sadly, this didn't last long. At the end of May my scooter broke down on the school run. I no longer drive, cannot push it back to where I live and so I went to pick up my child in a taxi, left the scooter for less than an hour in a secluded location. Unfortunately, when I came back to collect it, it was gone. Probably stolen.

I am now in desperate need of a mobility scooter to help me get around outside my home. I am humbly asking, if anyone has a spare pound or two, to please help me get that little bit of freedom back. And maybe, just maybe, I can manage to get out on the hiking trail again - on wheels instead of feet.

Thank you.