2020 was a difficult year for a lot of us & unfortunately moving into a new year hasn’t really made this year feel any less challenging. 

With much hesitation (because I know my mum & dad will kill me for this) id like to share with you the struggles our family has been facing. I’ve seen what this platform can do for people & as selfless as my family is, it’s important to remember that it’s ok to ask for help!
If you are sharing this on your social media & are friends with mum or dad can you please hide them from seeing the post as I am trying to surprise  them ☺️

Chapter 1

At the beginning of 2020 my beautiful mum Michelle was experiencing extreme back pain that she’d never had before nor could recall injuring herself in any way. The pain would keep her up at night and make her feel paralysed when trying to get out of bed.
Upon testing it was found that she had several lesions in her spine.  Further MRI’s also indicted that she had these lesions all over her body including the brain & lungs.
The testing was dragged out throughout the year (covid playing a nice role in this) and is still continuing. 
Doctors have told her that they believe it will be Multiple Sclerosis but are monitoring the lesions before final testing is done. 

Before this Michelle  was an extremely giving aged care worker.
Since this time last year the doctors haven’t deemed her fit to return to work; unfortunately placing financial hardship on to my dad (Dale) trying to keep a roof over all our heads with one wage and ridiculous medical costs.

Chapter 2 

A few months back the police and ambulance woke my family in the middle of the night at the door to notify us that my youngest sister Tamieka (15) had been on the phone to lifeline in the next room, telling them she was ready to end her life. This absolutely heartbreaking news came to a shock to all of us and we can thankfully say she is still here with us. 
This depression had been caused by a backlog of bullying both at school and online and her own personal thoughts of herself.
She was taken to hospital that night & has been seeing a psychologist ever since. But this hasbeen challenging given the costs associated with seeing a psychologist.
I can’t imagine how this made my parents feel.

And again I  want to reiterate that it’s ok to ask for help & if you’re ever feeling this way please speak to somebody! 

Chapter 3

My other sister Jorja (17) has lived with asperges/autism her whole life. This has brought many struggles to our family alone but of recent she has been diagnosed with a neurological disorder which has been the toughest struggle to watch unfold.
This all came about quite suddenly. She was home one day not feeling too well and later started going in & out of consciousness. Taken in an ambulance and arriving to the closest hospital it was then she started developing tics/seizures, something she’s never experienced before.
After a particular seizure she had whilst in hospital Jorja lost all feeling & movement down one side of her body, leaving her unable to walk without assistance for quite some time. 
Another episode resulted in her not being able to open her mouth & another completely paralysing her. 
These seizures can be extremely physical and up to an hour long.
This unfortunately has become something she has to deal with every day now currently.
Jorja still struggles to walk without assistance,can’t shower herself, and is having up to 10 seizures a day with the risk of loosing temporary movement each time. 
She has a door bell in her bedroom to ring to alert mum/dad each time she has one which are quite often during the night. 
Sometimes the seizures will cause her to pass out so it’s important someone watches just to make sure she’s ok even though there’s not much you can do. 
Absolutely terrifying to watch but mum & dad handle it so well!
The world must have known mum was missing her caretaking work haha.. 

Jorja has been diagnosed with functional neurological disorder.
An MRI also showed 11 lesions in her brain similar to mum. 
Jorja is undertaking rehab, physio, further testing and therapies to help manage this.

Conclusion  

To conclude I think it’s fair to say this year has been quite a stressful one. 
I would love to help relieve some of the medical costs my family has coming up.
They deserve a break from being stressed.
Hopefully this can also spread awareness for  MS, depression & neurological disorders; 
It is all so very real.

Thank you for taking the time to read & donate, it means the world! 

xx 
Maddy Abbott