Help to buy a wheelchair and cover living costs

Hello everyone, and thank you for clicking on whatever link brought you to this page!

My name is Eliah and I am a 22 year old disabled student studying for my undergraduate degree in psychology.

I've always had a difficult relationship with my health - struggling to be taken seriously by doctors and other professionals, to find effective treatments for my illnesses and to get the accommodations I needed to live my life fully.

I have never really identified with being 'disabled' and rather thought my health challenges were more of an inconvenience, something that I was doing wrong being the reason for my struggles.

When I moved to university in 2021 however, my relationship with disability was transformed.

Years before this big move in 2017, I was diagnosed with glandular fever and incapacitated for months. I was unable to attend school, to see friends or even leave the house - most days rarely even leaving my bed. As my body fought off the infection, I slowly started to see an improvement in my ability to do basic tasks like showering and eating until I was finally 'well enough' to go back to school.

In reality, I never fully got better, with the following months and years being filled with multiple infections and general susceptibility to illness due to my now weakend immune system.

I noticed my body didn't quite behave the same way as it did before I got ill, with physical activity and cognitive tasks now requiring much more time and energy. Still struggling with the idea that I simply wasn't 'trying hard enough' or doing the right things to 'really get better', I pushed on through the exhaustion and the decline in quality of other areas in my life to finish school and go on to sixth form and university.

Over the next 3 years, I had multiple crashes and flares in my health - I had lost the ability to maintain friendships and enjoy hobbies, continually struggling with leaving the house each day and completing my school work. Any doctors appointments I had either blamed my mental health, my age or recent life changes for my symptoms. Any blood tests I was sent for came back negative, and doctors reassured me that I was healthy.

I eventually moved away to university and found myself unable to access the level of support I had had in my home town. I kept fighting to get through all that my health was throwing at me but after only a couple of months of being at university, I was almost entirely unable to function. The combination of my fatigue and joint pain and constant sublaxions made me effectively housebound unless I had someone who was able to take me out in a wheelchair I had bought off of Ebay.

Rest and physiotherapy helped me to gain back some of my independence, however I was still severly limited in what I was able to do.

In 2022, I was diagnosed with Hypermobile Spectrum Disorder, a genetic connective tissue disorder and with lifestyle changes I began to see an improvement. I was still unable to live the 'normal life' of a young student, but I was finally able to start going back to university (with some adaptations). I continued to experience multiple crashes and flares in my health which led to me taking a year away from my studies, hoping to find out what was wrong with me. Over the next year I made little progress in finding answers until shortly before my next year of uni was due to start, I experienced a bad health flare, leaving me unable to work and once again stuck in my flat aside from the different doctors appointments and blood tests which caused my symptoms to worsen from the activity.

I began experiencing severe fatigue, brain fog, difficulty standing, dizziness and chronic acute joint pain to name a few.

After ruling out other potential causes for my symptoms my doctors have now given me the working diagnosis of ME/ CFS and fibromyalgia, which whilst helpful to have some sort of idea of why my body isn't working, doesn't come with a cure and is difficult to treat.

I am currently on the waiting list to be referred for more tests and other treatment options, which will be many months before I even get my first appointment. In the meanwhile, I am too unwell to work, I can barely meet the minimum requirements which my university requires of me and I can barely leave my house, especially not without making my symptoms even worse. This means that right now, I am struggling to make ends meet and to pay my bills whilst also trying to afford myself the accommodations I need to live.

Without help, most days I am unable to shower, cook or do food shopping and even on my better days I still have to make the decision of what I can do with my limited ability.

I don't have access to support from the government due to being a student and not currently being in receipt of PIP; and whilst I am in the process of applying for PIP, it is a long and difficult process where even if my application is accepted, it will be months before I see any support from this.

In the meanwhile, I have very few options for support and I desperately need to start regaining my freedom and independence as well as hopefully releving some of the stress which is accompanying this season.

Currently I have the use of a wheelchair to help me leave the house when someone is able to push me, however it is very difficult for me to push myself in and isn't designed for active daily use. I am in need of a lighter chair that is better suited to my health limitations so that I am able to push myself safely and with minimal pain, allowing me to start leaving the house more independantly. I am hoping to get some NHS support with the cost of funding a new chair, however with the specific adjustments and the need for a power attachment, even with NHS help I will still have a large sum to pay out of pocket.

Although posting a GoFundMe and asking for financial help absolutely violates my need to appear fine and not allow anyone to believe I may be struggling, in reality I stand to lose so much if I don't ask for and accept help.

I wouldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for the help and support of the people around me, and so I am slowly learning that I need to swallow my pride and accept that I am in need of the help from others.

I really appreciate any support you might be able to give me, whether that be in the form of a donation or sharing this so more people can help.

As the money raised increases and I am able to start putting that towards what I've mentioned above, I will be posting updates on where the money is going and the impact it is having on my life.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and thank you for anything you can do to help me.

If you want to know more, please do message me - I know that I have been pretty quiet about my health until now and understand and appreciate your concern!