Hi I'm Dario, I am fundraising on behalf of my good friend Sinem who is trying to raise £7,000 in 2 months to fund urgent medical care. She has written her story here:

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My name is Sinem, I’m writing to you to raise awareness and ask for your support in a deeply personal medical journey that has profoundly changed my life over the past four and a half years.

You may know me as a contributor to the London Buddhist Centre in many capacities: Mandala barista, retreat volunteer, evening class helper and community project leader.

My passion for creative connection led me to become a painter and an art wellness workshop facilitator - helping others reconnect with themselves. I’ve always devoted my skills to those around me.

I was an avid adventurer and able bodied athlete until the age of 24, when my symptoms of multiple invisible chronic disabilities started, including:

Between the age of 24-28 I have spent days to months bedridden, unable to walk or sit upright, crippled by sharp, aching, stabbing and twisting pelvic pain that spreads to my back, legs and whole body as well as chronic fatigue. For a majority of my time I cannot work. I cannot create. I cannot show up for the people and communities I love.

I now use a walking cane to move around, something unthinkable to me a few years ago, when I was cycling 16 miles a day, hiking and dancing. On a good day now, I can manage gentle stretches. On a bad day, I collapse or faint from the pain. Over the past three months alone, I’ve spent more than 10 days in hospital, unable to care for myself, cook, or even shower.

By contributing to my fund you are helping me get the medical aids I cannot afford to maintain.

I have spent my life savings on private medical care to attempt to find answers, as the NHS waitlists have left me without adequate resources for all these years. My savings were meant to fund my further studies to do art therapy, tattooing and find a home. For now my priority is reclaiming my life, getting a private gynaecologist and supporting my related disabilities.

What your contribution will help me to continue:

I’ve written letters. I’ve chased referrals. I’ve advocated in every way I can, I’ve been encouraged to take morphine and other opioids regularly by NHS doctors as a 'solution' and am expected to wait many more years for consultations. I’ve had appointments cancelled and complaints ignored.

This is why I’m asking for your help. It will allow me to begin healing, to return to the art, movement, and connection that once defined my life and to prevent further, irreversible damage to my body.

If you can donate, share this campaign, or simply hold my story with care, I’m deeply grateful. I can help raise awareness for the countless others still being ignored.

Love and kindness,

Sinem