Please help Lucy get treatment for Lyme Disease

Hi I'm Lucy and I'm 40 years old...the photo above is the old me, the me I so desperately want back. The me before covid. I took my two children to London for two days and we walked constantly all day for hours seeing the sites, we had the best time. Life was good, I was healthy, happy and full of life.

Four years ago, I was a single working Mum of two, enjoying every moment of my life. Living in a beautiful cottage in the country, taking my girls on adventures and I worked part time in my dream job as a Teacher of Textiles. Then, in early 2020 I caught a viral infection which we all now know is called Covid 19 and slowly my life has turned into a relentless battle with Long COVID/ME CFS, leaving me with debilitating symptoms and a rather bleak existence. Today, I'm reaching out not just for help, but for a possible chance to reclaim the life and the Mummy that Long COVID stole from my children. With your support, I can fund a treatment that will hopefully offer a path to getting some sort of life back.

January 2020 was the last time I have felt well. I came down with a virus in the February of 2020. And after initially getting over it, I felt like I would recover and then feel very unwell again. It was strange, I remember standing in the queue at Lidl's and just feeling dizzy and very vacant; something was not right. This suddenly got worse and I started to suffer with extreme insomnia. I would lay in bed tired and ready to go to sleep but my body my mind were unable to fall asleep. I would feel my mind transferring from wake to sleep and instantly I would feel an electric type shock and feeling of panic within my body which would imediately jolt me out of my sleep. This came with a shot of adrenaline and I would then feel so awake it was near impossible to again feel tired. This would happen at least 5x a night, I would be getting 3 hours sleep if I was lucky and this went on for months until I lost all function and was deeply depressed. My mum began living with me and kept me going and would often spend each frightening night with me by my side. She has always been my angel and constant support I am forever grateful to her. By the end of 2020 and after discussions with the leading sleep specialists in the uk I finally found a medication which gave me some relief from this torture . They are called myclonic jerks, we all have them from time to time but mine were more intense and chronic. I still get severe myclonic Jerks now, even after 4 years on the medication they still have not gone away.

During this period I had to quit my part time job teaching Textiles which I felt deeply sad about but at this stage I still felt positive I would recover and return to teaching. However it wasn't meant to be and in August 2021. A blood test revealed I was suffering from glandular fever, I had the worst headaches I have ever experienced and I hardly left my bed for 2 whole weeks. After this new viral infection, every bug put me in bed for a week at a time and by the end of 2021 things began to get worse. My body had given up the fight, I felt like I was falling down a hole. I tried everything to get out of that hole and researched as much as possible on supplements, treatments, anything I could find that might to make a difference to my health. My mum took to me to the Doctor's multiple times in the next 6 months. I went to rheumatologists, Neurologists, I had multiple tests and scans. I was feeding so terrible but no one could give me any answers. One test which did eventually show something was going on was during a tilt table test. Covid and other viral infections can cause something called dysautonomia which basically means my nervous system was unable to regulate my heart rate and blood pressure and after just 10 minutes standing, my blood pressure would start dropping and I would start to pass out. This is by far one of the worse symptoms of long covid/ME that I have to deal with on a daily basis. I can only stand up for short periods of 10 minutes and have to sit in a wheelchair everywhere I go. The doctors unfortunately don't have any answers for this disorder and say its uncurable. Salt water can help, but did very little for me.

My health only progressively got worst I was exhausted pretty much all the time, I had terrible brain fog and began to have crash periods where I would be completely bedbound for weeks only able to get to the toilet and back to my bed. I couldn't drive anymore, I haven't driven for 2 years and my life has slowly become very isolating and lonely. My mum has to live with me 4 days and the rest of the time my partner helps me look after my children. I am unable to cook, clean, bath my children, take them to school, or pick them up from school. I have to be really careful playing/interacting with them incase I overdo it, we use to have such an active life. now I just watch them from my bed or sofa. They still say I'm the best mum in the world, but I don't feel like I am anymore, I feel sad and useless and guilty all the time. My mum has had given up her retirement to look after me, I feel guilty for that too. COVID destroys lives!! I miss my friends, my hobbies, my job and more than anything being a Mum. I now have a diagnosis of ME/CFS. But even with this diagnosis there is no help. Chronic fatique syndrome Is one of the most under funded diseases In the world. No one understands it, which makes living with it even more difficult to cope with. It can be an extremely worrying and hopeless existence.

The most severe symptoms of ME/CFS are the never-ending brain fog and dizziness, and the intense and constant fatigue. No matter what I do or how much I sleep, which is always extremely light, I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus or feel hung over and poisoned. On a daily basis I experience a range of symptoms, including:

Chronic pain and aches throughout my body

Brain fog

Constant fatigue

Post-exertion malaise

Nerve damage

Chest pain

Headaches

Nausea

Fevers

Dizziness

Heart palpitations

IBS and other gut issues

Hypersensitivity

Sleep problems

Depression

Anxiety

Dysautonomia

Hot flashes

I’ve tried a variety of special diets, I take a handful of supplements every day, I’ve tried detox baths, saunas, acupuncture, nicotine patches, lymphatic drainage therapy, IV Ozone, HBOT therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, meditation, holistic medicine, and fasting, to mention a few. And although some of these have helped a little at times. Nothing takes this disease away from me.

It’s now been four years since I first got covid and my health and quality of life is still poor. I am home-bound 90% of the time, with the exception of occasional day out in my wheel chair with my children. I cannot work, I cannot stand for more then 10 minutes before my blood pressure drops, I cannot walk for more than 10 minutes again my blood pressure drops if I walk too far and my body feels like it cannot hold its own weight anymore. I can’t keep up with social contacts and have had to cut it down to a few close friends who I see at home for short periods. When I push myself to do more during a good period, I suffer the consequences for days, weeks, or months - whether it’s from being on my feet for too long, too much social interaction, or sometimes from just getting a bug from my children which as you can imagine is quite often.

I miss myself. I miss the fun, loving, and outgoing person that I know I am deep down. I don’t see that person anymore when I look in the mirror. My days consist of an endless struggle of surviving and trying to accept my reality of not knowing when or if this will ever end.

In a jungle of solutions that may or may not work, there are some treatments that show hopeful results. They are, however, very expensive, especially considering that I’m barely surviving on sickness benefit. That is why I’m swallowing my pride and reaching out for your help.

There is one main treatment center that I am looking into, its a bit radical but they are showing good results in the treatment of long covid and chronic illness such as Lyme Disease and feel it is worth a try, you only get to live once so you have to try right?

The treatment centre is called Stemaid in Mexico and specialises in Stem Cell treatments but also in detoxification of the blood to clean it from any active viruses, bacteria, mould and toxins which has managed to run riot in a extremely comprised system. They put together a specialised treatment plan and customise it to my specific symptoms. The treatment would run over 4 weeks in total and would be 6 days each week. Treatment would include 20 million stem cells given through an IV every day, EBOO iv ozone therapy, and nutritional IVs including peptides, NAD, B vitamins and chelation therapies to try and get rid of the bad infected cells. Viruses live in our body and usually are cleverly controlled by our immune system but with a compromised immune system, they replicate and go into stealth mode so the immune system is unable to detect them. Stem cells can recharge and strengthen the immune system and chelation therapies help flush out the infected cells so the body can naturally start to balance itself and heal. This treatment costs £20,000 plus I would need to pay for flights, accommodation and food for the 4 weeks I would be in treatment.

At this moment I'm aiming for a goal of £7,000 to put towards treatment in Mexico.

I am hoping to use some savings, credit cards and kind family members to help me fund this trip.

The treatments above give me hope. Hope that I can get my life back. Hope that I can get my dreams back. Hope that I can get myself back. I’m asking for your help and support now and I will be forever grateful for it. A donation will make a huge difference for me, and so will sharing my story.

We'd so appreciate if you would consider sharing this fundraiser with your friends and family. Spreading the word increases our reach, amplifying the impact of your kindness. Thank you for being a beacon of hope during this difficult time.