Disabled Single Mother: Here's Amanda's Story of Financial Needs

Firstly I wanted to Thank you for reading my message -

This is very hard for me to do because I don't like asking for help and I have always tried to manage with what I have but my circumstances changed so much I can't cope anymore - I am a single parent with 3 children I am also disabled and cannot work due to my poor health. I started working at the age of 13 and never missed any days off from being ill If I got a cold I would just get on with it, I used to run for the county championships, Ballet and cycling for miles everyday then my life change. ..

I got home after a day's work and ran up the stairs but when I got to the top of the stairs I lost my footing and fell from the top step to the bottom I screamed and my son's came running, ( you have to know that I don't like to make a fuss ) they helped me up to my bedroom where I lay all night in pain, in the morning I went to my doctors and he said he thought I had a bulging disc and bruising across my lower back he gave me some pain killers and anti-inflam tablets and I went home. Over the next few years I carried on with work but would find at the end of the day my back was hurting more and more so I kept going back to the doctors about it he kept saying the same thing and like a fool I listened thinking he knew what he was talking about .... Almost four years after my accident I had had enough I was missing days at work because of the pain and my children were having to help me more and more around the house and I also had to start using a walking stick, anyway I went to see someone else and as soon as I told her why I was seeing her she asked me " Have you ever had a scan or x-ray on your back ?? " I said no and explained that the other doctor didn't think it was necessary, a week later I had an M.R.I and had to wait 3 weeks for the results. I received a phone call from the doctor and she told me I had a slipped disc which was pushing onto my nerves in my legs and because it had been left for so long I also had the on-set of Osteoarthritis in my spine. Over the next 5 years I went to see different surgeons and specialists but they all said there was nothing they could do and I would have to live on pain killers for the rest of my life - I was in my late 20's so it came as a massive blow to me. Some time passed and I thought maybe there is something they could do at a different hospital so I ask my doctor for a referral and waited for my appointment, While I was at that appointment the specialist said he could try injecting a numbing liquid into my spine to numb the nerves so the pain would stop I was willing to try anything I could to fix this problem so I was booked in for this procedure. There was a 50/50 chance of it working if you had hurt your back with the time period of 6 months so because my Injury was over 5 years before I wasn't holding my breath. I was right not to because it didn't work, all it did do is hurt a lot because they didn't numb the area first !!!

I had to get use to my life now no more cycling or running because just walking hurt like mad ... 2 years after I had the injection into my spine I was out in my local town when I suddenly felt very faint and my heart was pounding out my chest the next thing I remember I woke up in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, I saw a heart specialist and he told me I had had an S.V.T which means Sub - Ventricular Tachycardia which means my heart pumps so fast it hasn't got time to pump the blood around my body causing me to pass out without any warning. I was given some tablets to help the palpitations ( I should of been given Beater Blockers but due to my asthma I can't ) I thought what else could this world throw at me - First my bad back then my on-going heart problem so I walked less and less because I was always feeling faint ... Just as I sort of got use to feeling like this I started getting really agonising pains all over my body, I thought maybe it was linked to my bad back and maybe I had been sitting or lying in the wrong position but it just got worse - Once again I went to the doctors and she sent me to the hospital for x-rays in my knee's ( which is where the most pain was at that time ) but they came back clear, I was living on loads of pain killers everyday just to cope with getting out of bed but some days even that was to hard for me to do, My children became my carers and I thought I was going mad because the pain was so bad the only way I can describe it to you is If you could Imagine the centre of your thigh bone being on fire and feeling like someone was twisting the bone and trying to pull my leg off, I was crying myself to sleep everynight and my pain meds increased every few months - I did a lot of searching on the Internet for answers but it kept pointing my problems to " Fibromyalgia " which I had never heard of before so I did more research and as I read it it was like reading about myself.. I went to the doctors with all this Information to ask if I could have this and after she read everything and passed it to one of her doctor friends they came back and said yes I had that aswell. It is a chronic pain disorder, I live with constant pain all over my body- Some days I can't use my hands other days I can't walk anywhere so I have a wheelchair .. I am on morphine on a hourly basis now and hundreds of other tablets ( I can give names of them and dosage if wanting to know more ) ..

The reason I am asking for help now is because I can't cope anymore - I am stuck in my house unable to get out anywhere, my kids do everything for me and go shopping after school - I was turned down for disability living allowance because they said because I could sit in a chair I could cook a meal - What they fail to see is when I'm sitting in the chair I can't bend down to put anything in the oven I can't remember the last hot meal I ate my children have learnt to cook for themselves. I am on Employment and support allowance but can only just afford food and bills...

I don't want sympathy for what I deal with but I would love a mobility scooter so I can get out the house to do the food shopping or so I can take the boys out for the day - I would love to take them away on holiday but can't afford that either so If anybody can help me and my family it would mean the world to me and my boys - I'm all they have there father walked out on me before my accident and he hasn't bothered with them since and he doesn't pay the CSA because they can't find him. I was looking after myself and my boys, I paid my way but then it all changed - Completely out of my hands ...

Please please please help us :) :)

Kind Regards

Petals