Hi,

My name is Jess. I'm a 19-year-old living with multiple chronic illnesses such as HEDs - this is a genetic condition that causes my joints to be extremely flexible and unstable. This means they can dislocate easily, this causes chronic pain and fatigue (ME/cfs). Overuse can cause micro damage easily, and I'm living with permanent left knee damage, which has progressed into a recent diagnosis of Infrapatellar fat pad syndrome, which causes my fat pad in my left knee to be pinched against my thigh and shin bones this explains my pain and issues I've had for the past year. Unfortunately, this condition is made worse by prolonged standing and short-distance walking. My advice from my medical professionals is not to walk on it, especially long distances, but to use my wheelchair

I have recently moved into university accommodation, which was advertised as being accessible with automated doors within the accommodation building; however on arrival, I have found out that there are no automated doors and I cannot exit my building in my eco assist, which is my current power assist - this is a front-attaching power assist. All the doors in my flat/accommodation building are heavy fire doors with key-card access or exit buttons, all have a timer of 5 seconds. With my eco assist attached, I cannot reach for the door, which is too far away, open the fire door, reverse my chair and then have the strength to keep the door open long enough to get through. By the time this happens, the door has locked, and I end up trapped in my flat or relying on my flatmates who are not always in to allow me in and out.

I can technically get out of the building in my manual chair, but due to energy levels and lack of strength, I am unable to push myself manually for long as I have issues with my shoulders dislocating. It is leaving me with no choice but to walk around campus, if this goes on much longer, I have a big risk of permanently damaging my joints (especially in my left knee).

My university is aware but is unable to move me or make adaptations to the accommodation fast enough to make an immediate impact

I'm raising £4,000 for the Alber E-motion m25 power-assisted wheels because they do not add any length to my chair and allow me to be able to manually push myself around campus with a boost.

Any donation means a huge lot to me, and I really appreciate it as every donation is one step closer to being independent.

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