Lyme disease treatments are not subsidised in Australia
ELLE Sharp was an ambitious young woman with the world at her feet. A talented athlete and scholar, she had a job, was studying at university and aspired to be a doctor when, without warning, she got sick. Very sick.
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Confined to her bed, in considerable pain and exhausted, Elle had to defer her studies and became financially and physically reliant on her parents.
Late last year, after two years of hell, she was diagnosed with Lyme disease, thought to be transmitted by a bite from a tick infected with the Borrelia bacterium. And then the real struggle began.
In Australia, the government does not subsidise treatment or medicines for Lyme disease. This means Elle and her family, who live in Killingworth, near West Wallsend, are having to pay about $1800 per fortnight in medical costs.
The strain can be heard in the 23-year-old’s voice, which trembles when she describes what has been taken away from her – and how much of a burden she feels she has become.
Elle woke up one morning with a migraine. It lasted six months. She noticed a rash on her torso with a “dot in the middle”, but dismissed it as ringworm and it disappeared within a week.
“From there it all went downhill,” she said.
“I spent months in bed, sleeping 18 hours at a time. All these weird things were happening to me and the doctors couldn’t explain it. They said it was all in my head.”
Elle lost friends and began to spiral, emotionally and psychologically.
“This became just as big a factor as the physical symptoms,” she said.
Her friend and fellow Lyme disease sufferer Tahlia Smith, of Raworth, was also told by doctors her illness was “in her head”.
“Tahlia had seizures for 23 out of every 24 hours and she has now come back from Germany, walking and talking. But she had to leave Australia and pay $50,000 for that treatment,” Elle said.
Last November the Senate referred the Lyme disease debate to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee. Elle has made a submission and is waiting for an outcome.
“To have a disease that is not acknowledged and is medically neglected is tough. I don’t want anyone else to end up like me,” she said.
“If I was in America when this happened I would have been treated and it would have been over and done with in four weeks.”
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help with the costs of Elle’s treatment. Check it our here: gofundme.com/sxk7nqbr
