Macedon Football Club is urging people to help a young woman battling the chronic late stage of a neurological condition known as Lyme disease.
The Cats have got behind player Pat Fitzgerald’s campaign to raise money to send Amy O’Sullivan to Europe for treatment to help in her fight to recover.
Lyme disease is an infection caused by a bacteria, which is transmitted by a tick bite, and can impact many bodily systems and organs. The chronic form of the disease attacks the central nervous system.
Mr Fitzgerald, who used to share a house with Ms O’Sullivan’s brother Max, said he decided he had to do something after returning from overseas to find Ms O’Sullivan’s condition had deteriorated considerably. Expensive treatment had also failed to help.
Mr Fitzgerald works as a masseur, and on the weekend he tackled a long line of footballers and supporters at clinics at Moonee Ponds and Macedon in a bid to raise $6000.
With Ms O’Sullivan’s treatment costing about $1000 a day, the club is also planning a charity night to take the total to $30,000.
‘‘I guess everyone has the ability to help, but I’ve just chosen to do it,’’ Mr Fitzgerald said.
‘‘I felt it was important. I believe that if you can [help] then you probably should.’’
In a video on her Facebook page, Ms O’Sullivan said living through the chronic stage of the Lyme disease was hell.
‘‘Every day is a struggle. There is never a pain-free moment,’’ she said.
‘‘Then there’s the scary side, from violent seizures and joint dislocation, to moments of full vocal and body paralysis where you lie there not knowing when or if you’ll make it out.’’
Describing the pain as relentless, she said ‘‘every night I go to sleep, I wonder if this is the night I won’t wake up’’.
Mr Fitzgerald said the O’Sullivan family had been through a lot physically, emotionally and financially over the past 18 months. ‘‘It’s so shocking,’’ he said. ‘‘If people can just help me help them, that would be great.’’
CLICK HERE to donate to the O’Sullivan family’s Ticked Off campaign.
