Jack the handyman needs a helping hand!

G'day I am Jack!

The past 9 months have been rough!

Desperately trying to get a diagnosis for the health condition that leaves me bed ridden 3 to 4 days a week. On the days I can get out of bed I am still sick and in pain. Due to the 25kgs of fluid from edema, my joints and muscles are weak, and my body is so constricted it feels like it will explode. Some days I feel like Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Because of my illness I havent been properly able to work for over a year. I am dead broke. Have applied to centrelink but without a diagnosis my application has been rejected. But hoping new blood tests will lead to a diagnosis and some treatment, as so far I have had no treatment! At this stage even if I get a diagnosis I won't be able to afford treatment.

I have had to give up everything I love! Have barely performed this year, and when I do I have been battling my illness which has impacted my breathing and movement, and meant that I have been extremely late to everything (late even for me!). I dont think people realise when they see me perform that an hour before I was dragging myself out of bed in pain.

I can't do much physical activity and don't socialise, sometimes only leaving my house once in a week. I have body and gender dysmorphia due to all of the fluid, and due to the pain from the fluid and its size I can only wear a handful of clothes. I am so isolated from the world and in particular my community.

I am a resilient and resourceful human and I always have my best mate Jakey (my dog) by my side. But after the life I have lived, with all the loss and horrific trauma I have experienced (kidnapped and left for dead as 2 yr old, lost my mum to suicide when I was 12, my step brother to a car accident when I was 22, my step mum to cancer when I was 27), I thought I might been able to catch a break, but life doesnt work that way. So here I am, chronically ill, unable to work, completely broke, unable to socialise, unable to perform or get outside that much.

But I will keep on keeping on!