Hey there, my name is Francesca, and about ten years ago a friend of mine, Laura McCleane, who i didn't even know particularly well, had a catastrophic mental breakdown after a confluence of awful domestic, and workplace events. My partner (at the time) and I took her in, and let her sleep on our lounge room floor for months, before managing to carve out some space for her in our house. As we assisted Laura's recovery, we realised that there was so much more underlying chronic illness than anyone had ever thought.

Laura's medical story is one of devastating negligence, mismanagement, and lack of education about "female" medicine. This story is long, and hard to tell, but all her complex medical symptoms could have been managed better in every single way if she wasn't also a victim of the system at every step.

NOW, we are trying to gather the funds to help Laura get the actual diagnoses and paperwork required to even apply for the Disability Support Pension, and/or some NDIS funding to try and get her back on her, poor, damaged little feet. We don't even know if she will qualify, but they won't even see her for meetings without letters from medical professionals.

We are seeking reports/diagnoses related to Autism, ADHD, anxiety, depression, hEDS, pots, multiple sleep disorders, medical trauma, domestic violence and workplace trauma, AND hearing loss that may or maynot be related to the heds, or maybe a skin condition (ears are hard, and $300 an appointment)

Laura is trying to navigate this system while processing her own history of systemic neglect. The police have let her down with MULTIPLE sexual assault charges, centrelink hit her with a robodebt while she was sleeping on my loungeroom floor, the workcover report she filed after horrific workplace bullying said "we agree you were bullied, but you didn't jump through OUR hoops, so we won't pay you anything". Her teenage years and early twenties were spent taking the highest legal dose of effexor (a very dangerous, and hard to quit antidepressant) because nobody believed that a chatty girl could be neurodivergent. When she had her breakdown, the psychiatrist she was given by the government put her on seroquel immediately without telling her what it was, what it was for, or what it would do to her, simply saying "this will help you sleep"

We, her immediate community, have spent the time and the money that we have to help her, but now we need you as well. We simply cannot get over this hurdle without assistance from outside our family.

We are seeking funds for:

Audhd assessment and report: $2500

Rheumatology assessment and reports: $1500 (min)

Sleep Study (free, thank god)

Psychological reports: $2000

We also need to recover her medical file, which her first GP (who she saw for 20 years) somehow failed to transfer her data to her new GP.

Her GP records are now listing, after 20 years of issues and surgeries, the single diagnosis of "Asthma" in 2011 (ludicrous, as she was diagnosed with Asthma at age THREE in 1992)

we are asking for less money than we need, but please give generously. It has been years since Laura has been able to work, and centrelink does NOT pay her nearly enough to survive and also seek medical assistance of any kind. Leo and I have been paying for her doctors and physios where we can, but now the three of us are completely financially tapped out and we need you.

Without YOUR help, Laura will never be able to get the support, and hopefully some kind of recovery, that she needs. My children adore her, and need her around. We adore her and need her around, and i know, if you're here, still reading, you adore her too.

Show love, help us get Laura the support she deserves, and the repayment for how much she has done for all of us for free. xx