Gareth Bragdon Lyme Disease Fund

For five and a half years, I had been suffering from grocery list of often terrifying symtomns that have included heart palpitations and arrythmias, severe migraine headaches and other neurological disturbances, deteriorating vision, dizziness and sudden bouts of anemia, digestive issues among many other things. 

During that time I have gone in and out of GPs offices and seen many specialists within the NHS. Tests and examinations always came back inconclusive and from a fairly early stage of this ordeal I was labelled as having “anxiety” or even “functional symptoms”. After this, it became harder and harder to be taken seriously by the NHS despite the list of symptoms growing year by year. By this past spring my symptoms had become really severe and incredibly frightening and I was loosing the ability to function in day to day activities. 

Finally, after long harbouring a suspicion, I took a private test for lyme disease- it came back positive. Finally, after all these years, I had a real answer, a real diagnosis. Still, the NHS did not take the test results seriously and despite the test results, despite the symptoms and despite my health CLEARLY declining over the years, I still often get treated like I’m crazy by the very institution that should be helping me. 

Since diagnosis I have had to turn to alternative cures out of pocket. As I cannot work at the moment due to my condition, my finances have collapsed and I have had to turn to friends and family to help finance my battle against chronic lyme disease. The financial strain has been immense and at this stage we are struggling to pay for further needed treatment. 

Again, let me emphasise. I am in the UK, not the US. I am in the home of supposedly one of the best health care systems in the world, free of charge. My lot should be a lot better here than were I in the US. However, I have chronic lyme disease. A disease that is invisible to the likes of the NHS who are slavishly following outmoded CDC guidelines. In the home of what is supposedly one of the best health care systems in the world, I have fallen through the cracks. A trip to the hospital or GPs office is like a journey into a parallel universe where I am  apparently healthy when I know damn well I am not. I have been left to rot by the NHS because I have the “wrong” disease.  Chronic lyme disease is one of the most expensive diseases in the world to have and this is largely due to a refusal of mainstream medicine to take it seriously in favour of continuing to bury their heads in the sand while people like myself continue to suffer and get worse.

I have set up this crowd funding page in a desperate attempt to help raise funds for my treatment. The money would be going towards seeing a private lyme disease specialist (these don’t exist within the NHS) and paying for further supplements and medicines. I just want my health back. My life back. Before it is too late. 

I also hope that this will help raise awareness of this devastating disease and obstruction and ignorance of institutions that should be helping people like myself but instead do the opposite. 

Any help will be greatly appreciated.