Six and a half years ago, at the age of 41, Megan’s life changed in the most devastating and profound way. And she wants everyone to know, life can truly change in the blink of an eye.
A passionate Property Consultant, Megan was a busy and active young woman with a real zest for life! Suddenly one morning she went to get out of bed and fell flat on her face, when she tried again, she realised she had uncontrollable tremors and could not walk. She knew something was wrong.
Megan was diagnosed with a Functional Neurological Condition which was an extremely emotionally draining process. While it took Megan one and a half years to learn how to walk again, she still has difficulty moving around as well as impaired speech, memory loss and excruciating pain in her back. Her daily chronic pain and muscle tremors often impact her ability to walk.
“Sometimes the pain is 24/7 and you just have to keep rolling with it.”
Megan said, for most people, the neural pathways to the brain can grow back after damage, but when you live with chronic pain, they remain blocked. And so, Megan’s days are filled with rehabilitation, doctor’s appointments and learning how to accept her new life as a person with a permanent disability.
“I see an exercise physiologist twice a week and I see a hydro physio I also see some kind of Einstein doctor and a psychologist every single week.”
The grieving process is extremely hard for anyone with an acquired disability, despite this, Megan has maintained her feisty attitude, humour and young, active lifestyle. Which is why it was so challenging when Meg was told she was not capable of living alone and had to move in with her elderly parents.
“They should never have had to go through that with their 41-year-old daughter. I wouldn’t wish that upon anybody, especially at 77 and 76.
But I did not have a choice, I had nowhere else to live. I will feel guilty for the rest of my life.”
Megan knew she had to get out of there and regain some of her youth and independence back.
Megan sadly had to give up work but is lucky enough to have NDIS funding. Even still, it took Megan over three and a half years to find suitable housing for her care and accessibility needs. After some roadblocks and setbacks, she settled in a lovely high physical Specialist Disability Accommodation apartment in Brisbane.
Through her support coordinator, Megan applied for a Youngcare Home Support Grant to help her deck out her apartment with vital whitegoods and furniture. These items are not funded by the NDIS, so without the Grant, Megan said she would have had to make-do with an empty apartment or furniture that would increase her pain.
“I would have managed with a bean bag on the floor and an esky full of ice for my cold food I suppose…”
Thanks to Youngcare’s generous supporters, Megan is comfortable in her new home with accessible furniture, a fridge, oven, microwave, washer and dryer. While we may take these household items for granted, they are truly life-changing for someone in Megan’s position.
To Youngcare’s incredible family of supporters, Megan would like to send this message:
“I am more than grateful for Youngcare’s overwhelming grant, I did not expect this. Since I cannot work, I would love to try to help in any way with fundraising for Youngcare so that what you have done for me, we can continue to do for other people in a dire situation.
People that keep Youngcare going, we need to have more of you, so you can keep doing this type of thing. So that you don’t have to leave people out. You are doing an awesome job.”
