This page is concentrating on raising funds for a wheelchair which will enable me to leave my bed; it will cost £25,000 and give me much needed independence.
(There will be another page concentrating on medical care to improve my ill health but it is taking a lot of time & energy to create, so watch this space...)
Creating this page took months to do as I have so little energy. But I am fiercely independent & although my family does a lot for me, they know I want the appeal to come straight from my heart, through my words.
I have been bed bound for 4 years & it has been very isolating. People joke about wishing they could stay in bed longer, but believe me, when you have been suck in bed for 4 years the novelty soon wears off!
I can’t sit for longer than 10 minutes with my legs down & my current wheelchair does not raise my legs to prevent me from fainting. Fainting is due to Autonomic Dysfunction; I also have a chronic kidney infection & Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.
Once I have a better wheelchair, I will be able to get a car (through the Motability scheme) & be able to travel to places other than hospital appointments in an ambulance! A suitable wheelchair would open up my world significantly.
I remain positive focusing on the small list of things I CAN do, even if that is with help... But it’s the small things that I find frustrating, not being able to go into a shop to buy a birthday card, or not being able to buy an ice cream on a hot day... actually I like my ice-creams all year round!
When I do get out again I won’t recognize parts of my local city Carlisle, as an arty person, there is a new Paper Chase which I would like to look around!
I know that raising such a large amount of money won’t be quick, or easy, but I am sick of being a prisoner in my own bedroom. The right wheelchair would enable me to be free, please help give me wings… or in this case wheels!
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." Cicero