Help Ana Regain Mobility, Freedom and Independence

Aim

One operation took away my ability to walk—but not my determination. Help me access rehabilitation, regain independence and return to work.

Hello, my name is Ana. Asking for help like this is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I have always tried to be the person who helps others, but I have reached a point where determination alone is no longer enough

    HOW MY LIFE CHANGED

Before having cervical spine surgery, I could walk, work and live independently. I loved my job and loved knowing that I was making a difference in other people’s lives.

Following the operation, I lost the ability to walk after sustaining nerve damage and spent around a month in hospital. More than a year later, I remain a wheelchair user.

I have since also developed Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), and I live with lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and severe chronic pain. Every day is a battle between pain, weakness, exhaustion and my determination not to give up.

I have lost my job, friendships, freedom and the ability to participate normally in family life. My children have grown older and now have lives and responsibilities of their own, as they should. I hate feeling that my needs could become a burden to them.

Because I cannot leave my home, I have seen my grandchildren only a few times since they were born two years ago. Their lives are moving forward while I remain in the same hospital bed, watching the outside world through the window beside me….. 

Most days, I cope by placing all this grief on an imaginary shelf inside my mind—somewhere so high that I do not have to look at it, feel it or think about it. Facing every loss at once is overwhelming.

However, creating this fundraiser means taking everything down from that shelf and telling the truth about what my life has become.

WHEN MY POWER WHEELCHAIR WAS BROKEN

After a recent flight, my power wheelchair was returned to me damaged and is no longer safe to use. It does not lock securely in its open position and tries to fold while I am moving.

I saved for a long time to buy that wheelchair, and I cannot currently afford the repair.

Because of muscle atrophy in my right arm and osteoarthritis affecting my right shoulder, I cannot safely self-propel a manual wheelchair. I also do not have anyone living with me who is available to push me around throughout the day.

Without a safe, working power wheelchair, I have no independent way to move.

To someone else, it may look like only a chair. To me, it was my legs—the only way I could move independently.

I am sharing this because people need to understand what happens when essential mobility equipment is handled without care. This was not simply another piece of luggage. It was my freedom, my independence and something that cost me a great deal of money.

When it was returned broken, I did not just lose a piece of equipment. I lost the little freedom I still had all over again.

A LIFE CONTROLLED BY WAITING LISTS

      🙏🌸I am in the hands of our lord 🌸🙏

My recovery has become another waiting game.I have waited for more than a year for suitable specialist neurological rehabilitation, but even after waiting, admission is not guaranteed. Appropriate places are extremely limited and difficult to access.

I am also still waiting for specialist FND treatment, pain management and hydrotherapy. Physiotherapy appointments have often been more than a month apart.

It is incredibly difficult to rebuild movement, strength and confidence when treatment is so limited and appointments are spread so far apart. My life revolves around waiting lists while my body becomes weaker and my independence moves further away.

The private options I have found are financially impossible for me without help. A rehabilitation package can cost around £25,000 or more, while some intensive inpatient programmes can cost approximately £8,000 per week.

Even at those prices, no responsible provider can guarantee that I will walk after the first course of treatment—or after a second or third course.

I understand that rehabilitation cannot promise me a miracle. Success may not immediately mean walking. It could mean rebuilding strength, improving movement, transferring more safely, preventing further deterioration or regaining enough independence to work and participate in life again.

I am not asking people to purchase a guarantee that I will walk. I am asking for the opportunity to be properly assessed and receive consistent, specialist treatment instead of being left in bed while my body becomes weaker.

My greatest hope is to walk again. However, even if walking takes time or does not happen in the way I dream of, I desperately need the freedom to leave my home safely, use the right wheelchair and begin living again.

It is incredibly difficult to rebuild movement, strength and confidence when treatment is so limited and spread so far apart. My entire life now seems to revolve around waiting lists while my body becomes weaker and my independence moves further away.

          A HOME THAT KEEPS ME TRAPPED

I now sleep in a hospital bed in my living room because I cannot climb the stairs to reach my bedroom .
My current home is not wheelchair accessible. The internal doorways are too narrow for my power wheelchair and need to be widened. There is also not enough clear space for me to turn or manoeuvre the chair safely.

The limited available space has to hold my hospital bed, essential disability equipment and the machinery, stock and materials I purchased for Mabelice before my operation. I do not have an accessible workshop or suitable alternative place to store it.

Before this happened, I had worked incredibly hard to prepare my creative business, Mabelice, for opening.

Mabelice creates bright and colourful stationery, planners, notepads, personalised gifts and handmade products. It was more than a business idea. It represented independence, purpose and the opportunity to create something positive with my own hands.

Everything was ready for me to begin, but my health and inaccessible surroundings stopped me before I could properly open.

I still have the ideas, equipment and determination, but I do not have an accessible home that I can safely leave or a suitable workshop where I can work.

The equipment that was meant to help me build a future now sits around me unused because I cannot safely reach, organise or operate it.

I do not want to spend the rest of my life confined to one room, unable to work or control my own future. I desperately want to return to work, make magic with my hands and build a life in which I can support myself and help others.

Even before my power wheelchair was damaged, I could not use it inside the property or move between rooms because there was simply no space. In order for me to get on to it I had to transfer on to the commode and then get wheeled to front door, use the sliding board and lifted at the end to finish transfer g on to power chair. 

I cannot access my bathroom, kitchen or even a sink. My accessible world consists of my hospital bed and the window directly beside it.

People may imagine that I can simply use a manual wheelchair and ask someone to push me, but that is not my reality. I cannot self-propel because of the muscle atrophy in my right arm and osteoarthritis affecting my right shoulder. I also do not have anyone living with me who can push me around throughout the day.

Even if somebody were present, there is not enough room to manoeuvre a wheelchair safely through the property.

There are also two steps at my front door. Because of the layout of the entrance and the fact that my hospital bed is now in the living room, an internal ramp would block the doorway I need to enter or exit that room.

Rather than creating an accessible escape route, the ramp would create another barrier and trap me inside the living room even more completely.

At present, there is no safe route from my hospital bed to the outside world. I cannot leave my home independently under any circumstances—not even during a fire or another emergency.

An occupational therapy assessment has taken place, and measurements were taken for the doorways to be widened. However, the adaptations required are extensive and would be extremely expensive.

I applied to the council to be rehoused in a suitable or adaptable property. I was told that, because of the severe shortage of appropriate housing, it was unlikely that the council would be able to relocate me.

Every possible route seems to end in another barrier: my home is unsuitable, adapting it would cost too much, and suitable alternative housing may not be available.

I have been waiting for suitable accessible housing since March 2025, yet I remain in a property that does not meet my most basic mobility, personal care or safety needs.

From the outside, I have a house. Inside, my entire life has been reduced to a hospital bed and a window.

It feels as though I am living inside two prisons: one created by my body and another created by my inaccessible home.

        MY DREAM OF OPENING MABELICE

            HOW YOUR SUPPORT WILL HELP

The money raised will help towards:

• ❤️Specialist neurological rehabilitation in the UK or overseas.

• ❤️FND treatment, pain management, physiotherapy and appropriate water-based rehabilitation.

• ❤️Costs associated with securing, moving into and equipping accessible housing.

• ❤️An accessible workshop where I can safely operate Mabelice.

• ❤️Suitable mobility equipment and other disability-related equipment.

• ❤️Accessible transport to rehabilitation, medical appointments, the swimming pool and work.

• ❤️Entrance to an accessible leisure centre so I can undertake safe pool-based exercise and work on rebuilding lost strength and muscle while I wait for specialist treatment.

• ❤️The practical costs of rebuilding my independence and finally bringing Mabelice to life.

The funds will be carefully prioritised according to my most urgent medical and accessibility needs. I will also provide updates so supporters can see the progress their kindness is making possible.

🌻Support does not have to be large to make a difference.🌻

💙💚❤️💜🧡💛🖤🩷🩵🤍🩶🤎🩷💚🖤❤️🩵🩶

🌼- Someone may choose to buy me a coffee☕️ on a difficult appointment 🏥

or 

🌼- Exercise 🏋🏻‍♂️ day, cover one entrance🎟️ to an accessible swimming pool 🏊‍♂️

or 

🌼 contribute towards the transport🚐 needed to get there.

When medically appropriate, regular pool-based exercise would give me an opportunity to work gently on movement, strength and confidence rather than remaining confined to bed while I wait for specialist rehabilitation.

💓💓Even one pool session gives me a reason to leave the house and another opportunity to keep fighting 💪for my independence.💓💓

♿️ 

SPONSORSHIP AND OTHER OFFERS OF SUPPORT

✳️I would also gratefully consider financial sponsorship and practical assistance ♿️From 

✅individuals businesses, 

✅charities 

✅reputable organisations.

Sponsorship or support could include 

🟣▪️rehabilitation, 

🟢▪️mobility equipment 🦽, 

🟡▪️accessible transport🚐, 

🔴▪️flights✈️, 

🔵▪️accommodation 🏨 ,

⚫️▫️ workshop space, 

🟠▪️stationery 📚 materials, 

⚪️▪️printing,🖨️ 

🟣▪️packaging or postage📨.

My greatest hope remains to walk again. If safe, evidence-based neurorehabilitation is available more quickly or affordably overseas, I am willing to travel or temporarily relocate. If the right treatment required a longer stay abroad, I would seriously consider it.🔸

Any medical offer would be carefully verified and discussed with my UK clinicians. I would only accept treatment where the provider’s qualifications, facilities, possible risks and aftercare arrangements were clear.

I understand that nobody can guarantee I will walk again, but I am determined to pursue every responsible opportunity to improve my mobility, independence and quality of life.

🌸My dream does not end with rebuilding my own life.🌸

Once Mabelice is open and financially stable, I will create a permanent Freedom Forward stationery bundle. A clearly stated amount from every sale will support a verified person or disability-related cause, with transparent updates showing what was raised and transferred. This will be my way of paying forward the kindness shown to me.

❤️The collection will remain permanently available in my store—not only as a temporary fundraising product.❤️

• Each product page will clearly identify the verified person or cause being supported and state exactly how much from every sale will be donated. I will publish regular updates showing the total raised, who received it and proof that the money was transferred.
• My goal is to find sponsors for the materials, manufacturing, packaging, payment fees and postage. If these costs are fully sponsored, 100% of the product price will be donated directly to people needing rehabilitation, mobility equipment or similar disability support.
• Until every cost is sponsored, Mabelice will donate a clearly stated fixed amount from each bundle so customers always know exactly how much their purchase is contributing.
• Once Mabelice is established and I am financially able, I also intend to work towards giving kindness shown to me through this fundraiser over time. I want my business to continue supporting people living with disability, isolation and endless waits for treatment.
• I may be one person with a tiny business that has not yet had the opportunity to begin, but I will never stop wanting to help others.

I am not asking for luxury or for other people to support me forever.

I am asking for a safe and accessible home, a genuine chance at rehabilitation, a place where I can work and the freedom to begin supporting myself again.

Every donation, sponsorship offer or practical contribution—however small—will bring me closer to recovery, independence and returning to work.

If you cannot donate, sharing my fundraiser would mean just as much. One share may help my story reach a person, business or rehabilitation provider able to offer the opportunity I desperately need.

🩷💚🖤❤️🩵🩶🧡💙🤍💛💜🤎🩷🩵🤍

Thank you for reading my story, believing in me and helping me bring Mabelice to life❣️

🤎💜💛🩶🩵❤️🧡💙🤍🩷💚🖤💜💙🩵💚🖤❤️

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th September 2026 at 1:37am