Hi. Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Having tried to get help via many other means, including several charities, I am hoping this method will be successful in raising some desperately needed money for my very dear young friend, Mimi Brooks (some of you may know her by her Equity name, Mimi Tizzano), who has fallen on hard times through no fault of her own.

Mimi was born with a rare brain condition called Chiari Malformation, Type 2, which led to a form of hydrocephalus called Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH), which in turn led to several life-threatening operations and a shunt in her brain to drain the fluid that would otherwise build up and kill her. This shunt is now causing permanent pain, seizures, blackouts and balance issues, but the surgeons say it is too dangerous to remove it, so they are having to consider alternative operations to try to relieve the excruciating level of pain she puts up with daily. She has also lost the sight in her left eye as well as peripheral vision in her right eye as a result of her brain conditions.

On top of all of this, both Mimi and her fiancé, Richard, were dangerously ill with Covid in the early part of last year and she was in hospital for over a month. All the time she was in hospital, she was just worrying about Richard, not herself. That’s the kind of person she is. Both are still suffering from the effects of Long Covid a year later and, despite her naturally positive demeanour, Mimi is finding it harder and harder to find anything to smile about.

Mimi also has several other debilitating conditions, one of which, Eosinophilic Oesophagitis (EoE) was recently diagnosed, following over a year of her being unable to eat or drink, including water and medication, without being sick, which was either caused by or exacerbated by Covid and is ongoing, despite doctors putting her on steroids. That condition is made even worse by a hiatus hernia.

EoE is an allergic inflammation of the oesophagus, which causes a range of symptoms, including difficulty swallowing, food becoming stuck, acid reflux, heartburn, chest pain, difficulty sleeping, chronic cough and laboured breathing - and vomiting, of course. It’s common for sufferers of EoE to associate eating with pain and vomiting and, as with Mimi, sufferers are understandably reluctant to even attempt to eat and drink, especially in public.

Mimi has existed mainly on milky drinks, which tend to stay down for longer than anything else, but it’s just that – an existence, not a life – and she is getting weaker all the time from the lack of nutrients. Her teeth are also crumbling from the constant vomiting and, at some stage, she will need extensive, costly dental treatment, as this is really upsetting for her, particularly at her young age.

Mimi is a professional actress and singer, as well as a former gymnast, who is now, devastatingly, unable to work as she can barely stand some days, let alone walk, and she is at constant risk of falling.

She and her fiancé are living on his salary and Universal Credit, which doesn’t really take her current circumstances into account. They barely have enough money to pay the rent, let alone the bills; consequently, the debts are piling up. At the moment, they owe a year’s Council Tax, are behind with water, electricity and gas and they risked hypothermia throughout the winter months as they couldn’t afford to put the heating on most of the time!

All Mimi ultimately wants is to get well – or at least well enough to be able to get back to doing the work she loves: acting, singing, producing shows and teaching gymnastics to children. She has always been like Pollyanna, trying to focus on the good things in her life rather than the bad, but now, on top of everything else, she is terrified that all the vomiting will permanently damage her vocal cords. She is struggling to stay positive in a situation she can’t see her way out of.

The added stress Mimi has right now, and the one I am hoping to get help with, is that she needs to be able to find a suitable place to live that will be safe for her (e.g. no stone steps as she is at risk of falling), a property that is not right by railway tracks that are constantly being worked on throughout the night keeping her awake (which is her current situation and is severely affecting her physical and mental health) and, perhaps even more importantly for her, somewhere that will accept her beloved cat, Duffy, which so many places, sadly, won’t.

Mimi and Richard's next home also needs to be more affordable, so they don’t have the added stress of being in debt in order to pay the rent. Their current landlord actually put the already overpriced rent up just after they had been in hospital with Covid – at a time when many landlords were being lenient and even putting rents down or giving payment holidays! Their tenancy is up at the end of April and the fear is that, even if they are allowed to go on a rolling contract whilst looking for somewhere appropriate, the landlord could further raise the rent, making life even harder!

What Mimi needs right now is the money to be able to pay off her debts, to have her and Richard's current rental property professionally cleaned, to have a removals company come and help pack up their things and move them to their new home (assuming a suitable one can be found!) and for the deposit to be paid on the new place. Estate agents have suggested that they may have to pay up to 6 months in advance because Mimi cannot currently work, even though it’s due to her illness. She’s not getting much in the way of benefits because she lives with her fiancé, who is working but not earning enough to support them both.

The absolute minimum we need to raise is £7,500, but Mimi actually needs so much more than this to really get her back on her feet. At the moment, Mimi and Richard don’t even have decent beds to sleep in; Richard is sleeping on just a mattress and Mimi’s bed is so old it’s falling apart! Their sofa is also on its last legs, so they have nowhere comfortable to sit either. Not having proper support for her back is really taking its toll and Mimi has permanent back pain.

I have always helped up to now but, with my husband’s and my finances having been drastically affected by the combination of recent events, I am no longer in a position to give any real help. I don’t want to let her down as she so deserves to have a decent life, rather than the constant pain, stress and fear for the future.

Again, thank you so much for reading this. I hope you will also watch Mimi’s beautiful video, illustrating how badly her situation is affecting her. Please, please help if you can. We will be so grateful for absolutely anything you can spare. If we raise enough money, it might even be possible to get Mimi the dental work she needs to really be able to smile again.

God bless you!