A mother-of-two is desperately fighting a serious bacterial infection after being bitten by a tick.
Heidi Luckraft, 39, from Beeston, Nottinghamshire, was walking her dog four years ago when she was chewed on.
However, it wasn’t until last year that she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease.
She is now on 29 different medications a day and uses a wheelchair as the illness attacks her organs.
Her family and friends are frantically trying to raise money for treatment in the US after the delayed diagnosis has left her with no options in the UK.
Her friend, Jodie Deegan, 34, speaking on her behalf because she is too unwell – said: ‘Last week she had to be resuscitated three times. She’s just in agony.
‘At first she would have more good days than bad days, but now we’re thankful if she gets a good hour.
‘If she was correctly diagnosed within 48 hours, all she would have needed is a two week course of antibiotics.
‘When she was finally diagnosed it was bittersweet. She was relieved to have a diagnosis but by that time, it was so serious.
‘But she’s such a positive person. She keeps saying she’s been given the disease so she can help other people in the future.’
Mrs Luckraft was walking her dog in Wollaton Park in 2012 when she was bitten by an infected tick.
She immediately felt tired and unwell but spent years being misdiagnosed.
Doctors initially believed she had meningitis before diagnosing her with chronic fatigue syndrome.
However, a tell-tale rash emerged three years later which allowed her to be diagnosed with Lyme disease.
The bacterial infection often takes up to a month to show signs – but can lead to heart failure if left untreated.
If caught early enough, a course of antibiotics is usually all that is needed to treat the infection.
But because of how long it took her to receive a diagnosis it has left her untreatable in the UK and reliant on a wheelchair.
She says her brain feels like it is swelling and it causes her to get really painful migraines.
All she can do to ease her suffering is to sit in a dark room and not even look at her phone.
The condition has become so bad that the keen fundraiser would collapse in her wheelchair and cry from the pain after singing in front of children.
Doctors have prescribed her 29 different drugs to take each day to prevent the illness from taking over her organs.
She was even resuscitated three times last week.
Her husband Mark and Miss Deegan are now trying to raise the £60,000 needed for life-saving treatment in the US.
She needs IV infusions, immune boosting IV therapies, stem cell treatments alongside IV antibiotics.
They are hoping to raise the money needed for treatment before Christmas for Mrs Luckraft who is now ‘hiding from the world’.
Miss Deegan added: ‘She never really told anyone about it, she just got on with it. Now her phone is going mad with people getting in touch.
‘When I told her we’d already raised £800 she burst into tears.
‘She keeps asking “do you think we’ll do it?”, but I know she doesn’t want to get her hopes up just in case.’
‘She always puts other people first, it’s time she did something for herself.’
Refferal: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3832281/Mother-two-fighting-life-contracting-Lyme-disease-walking-dog-4-YEARS-ago.html