“I’m almost fighting with myself every day” - Chloe determined to win her battle with Lyme disease

The 25-year-old from Halifax has seen her aspirations and her quality of life shattered by Lyme disease, a bacterial infection commonly spread to humans by infected ticks.

Chloe spent her savings, £2,000, to get tested for the disease in January, and had to give up her job the following month after the symptoms became so overwhelming that she could no longer work.

Now her partner Adam Robinson has set-up a fundraising page to try and pay for specialist treatment in Mexico or Germany.

“I’ve been poorly all my life and it’s just gradually got worse as time’s gone on,” she said.

“It’s got to the point where I’ve been dismissed from work because I couldn’t keep up to the hours, even though they were shortened.

“I wasn’t getting anywhere with my doctor, and after being so desperate because I wasn’t getting any help, I used my savings to get tested with a private medical centre which had been recommended to me by people I’d met online.

“This place was called Breakspear in Hertfordshire, and I found out I had Lyme disease.

“They told me to get tested with my GP as well so they’d have it on my records, and that came back positive, which was quite rare because the test with the NHS isn’t comprehensive enough.

“So I was relieved in a way that I’d been found positive because it meant I could try to get treatment.

“I was given a course of antibiotics called doxycycline, but if anything it made me worse.

“This only treats people who are in the early stages of contracting Lyme, so if I’d just been bitten and I’d gone to get these antibiotics, it more than likely would have gotten rid of it.

“But when I went to Breakspear they seemed to think that due to my health being so poor for a long time, and deteriorating, that it’s chronic Lyme, which I’ve had for a while, which does make sense, according to all the symptoms.

“I asked the GP if there was any more they could do but they said no.

“After doing research and speaking to people, all the treatment that is out there costs money because it’s not within the NHS, and it’s all extremely expensive.

“Not one treatment works for everyone because everybody is different and there’s different strains of Lyme.

“So unfortunately a lot of it is trial and error.”

Chloe says she doesn’t know when she initially contracted the condition, but thinks it will have been a long time ago.

“You can contract it through ticks and certain bugs, it’s more common in ticks but you can get it through other bugs like mosquitos,” she said.

“There are also other co-infections the tick can pass onto you as well.

“But only nine percent of people remember getting what’s called a bullseye round their rash, which is when you know for definite that you’ve been bitten, because it’s like a big rash around the bite.

“I don’t remember having that but if I’ve caught it when I was a kid then I won’t do I suppose.

“There’s not a lot of research into it but there are some studies which suggest it can also be passed down through pregnancy.”

Chloe says she was poorly as a child and has been ill for as long as she can remember.

“I’ve always just put up with being ill. I had tests as a kid but nothing came back.

“Doctors don’t get educated about it when they’re going through their teaching, so they’re not going to think to test for Lyme.

“I’m very susceptible to infections with my immune system being compromised.”

“But it’s only because now I’ve become so unwell that I can’t do anything, which is why I’m trying to push to get sorted.”

Chloe says it was extremely difficult to have to give up work as a consultant for a car insurance company in Halifax.

“I’d call myself very independent, very proud, not one to feel sorry for myself, so it was extremely hard to have to leave work and submit to being poorly,” she said.

When asked how the condition affects her physically, Chloe said: “I could write a book on all the symptoms.

“It’s different for everyone but I get chronic pain, joint pain, muscle pain, nerve pain, all over my body. Sometimes it’s worse in different areas depending on the day.

“I feel extremely fatigued, tired, exhausted, like I’ve got no energy at all.

“Extreme brain fog, which is where you get short-term memory loss, you can’t focus, you can’t think straight, sometimes it’s difficult to read or even speak.

“That’s one I struggle with the most because it’s horrible to think that, at this age, my mind’s just not where it should be.

“The way I describe it to other people who might not understand is that it is like a hangover but ten fold.

“It feels like I’m just overburdened with toxins, just really unwell. But there are lots and lots of symptoms.

“Because I’m not able to live the life that I want, it affects me in my mind entirely, because I feel like I’m trapped in my body, I’m not able to do anything that I want to do.

“It’s like the Lyme is controlling my body and it’s demanding that I rest or it’s demanding that I don’t do anything.

“It makes me feel like I’m going crazy, I get extreme anxiety and depression.

“I’m almost fighting with myself every day. You want to keep going, you want to get better, but when you’re so, so poorly and there’s no support from within the healthcare industry, there’s no hope of getting better.

“So the thought of being stuck like this, of course it’s going to have an affect on my mind.

“This is why Adam created the fundraiser, because I’ve gotten to the lowest point I’d say, where something needs to give.”

Adam, 44, and Chloe have been together for just over a year and live together in Halifax.

“He’s amazing,” Chloe said.

“He supports me in every way, he does all the things I can’t, he looks after me, he’ll take care of everything.

“He’s my support to lean on. I’ve got my family too of course and they are very loving and supportive.

“When we got together Adam knew I wasn’t well, but the last few years is when I’ve deteriorated the most.

“I used to pretend to other people that I was fine, and then go home and crash, because I wanted so desperately to be normal.

“I’ve gradually gotten worse so Adam has seen that whole side and has seen me change dramatically because it’s gone downhill so much recently.”

Chloe enjoys painting and cooking, but is unable to because it takes so much energy.

She is also unable to see her family as much as she would like due to her illness.

“I love seeing friends and family, doing things with them.

“I also wanted to go to university to get a degree and become a therapist.

“I did go to uni when I was 18 but I had to leave because I was so poorly, so I’ve never been fit enough to go back and do that, which is one of my biggest goals.”

Chloe’s fundraising page has a target of £10,000 but she says it is hard to put a figure on how much treatment may cost.

On average, Lyme patients pay £40,980 per year for their own treatment.

“With there being so many different treatments, it can range from anything between £10,000 to £50,000,” Chloe said.

“The treatment the NHS offers is nothing really for people like me. They’re not even really aware of it.

“There’s so many people who go undiagnosed and there needs to be more awareness of it so that more research can be done and more people can get help.

“There’s people that don’t have the finances to get better, and all they’re doing is going into a downward spiral.

“To me it feels inhumane that they don’t have the option to get better.

“It’s becoming more common, the numbers are rising in the UK.”

Despite the challenges posed by her illness, Chloe remains determined to try and overcome it, and says the support from people who have donated money has meant a lot to her.

“I’ve always been a glass-half-full person, I always try to look on the positive side,” she said.

“But with everything I’ve been going through, the hope has been near non-existent.

“But ever since Adam created this fundraising page and I’ve seen it rising and rising, it’s just put that hope right back in me that there’s a chance I can get better and have a life again.

“I’m overwhelmed by the support and very hopeful. I feel like I can start smiling again.

“You just don’t think that people want to help, you don’t think people care, but it just shows that they do.

“I can’t thank them enough.”

To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/f/fighting-lyme-disease-for-chloe.