Help support Garys fight to live a normal life

Over the last few years garys health has deteriorated rather fast. He has seen drs, specialists, had surgeries after surgeries. Nobody could diagnose the problem. He was tested for so many different things. Everything came back normal until a general surgeon sent him to the Alfred hospital for a test. She assured us this test would probably be normal but it was worth a try. To our surprise this test was far from normal. This test showed Gary has some muscles in his throat that do not contract. This means everyday Gary struggles to eat, he cannot swallow the way a normal person like you and I can. Food gets stuck in the throat which results in choking. Gary suffers from constant blood noses sometimes up to 5 a day, he suffers constant coughing fits just from swallowing his own saliva. He vomits blood regularly. He suffers from Raynaud’s phenomenon which makes his limbs turn all shades of purple and blue. He gets constant staphylococcus infections which means he can’t work. He has been sent to hospital from work in ambulance due to him choking at work. He struggles to eat in front of people due to this issue. He finds it embarrassing. His current diagnosis of sclerosis scleroderma means if it progresses further he will need to be off work permanently and tube fed. There is no known cure for scleroderma
it is a death sentence. Some people survive 2 years some survive 30 it depends on the symptoms.

Drs are also looking at all this being caused by chemicals he has been exposed to for many years. But to get this formerly diagnosed we need to see a specialist in Sydney. Multiple chemical sensitivity can cause many different symptoms and diseases. However it’s not yet a full recognised disease. Although there was a huge class action in south Australia, there are no drs in Victoria that we have found or our array of drs and specialists have found. This whole situation has caused severe financial hardship. As much as we can we have used the public system but as his symptoms worsen we just can not afford to wait on long waiting lists. 

We tend to keep all our stuff to ourselves and never ask for help. We go about life best we can to give gary as much quality of life as we can as no dr can tell us what to expect next. Every morning he gets up and heads off to work. He comes home and he struggles to move.  Through all this we have continued to do volunteer work through many avenues and we know there are thousands in worse positions than ours. 

right now we are asking for any help we can get to get him to this specialist in Sydney get new brakes on his precious SS so he can continue to attend thecar club events he loves so much. 

gary does not know we are asking for help as he would be completely embarrassed at the mere thought. 

I am asking for your support as friends and family. Ijust want him back to as normal as we can get him. To enjoy the life we have.