At 26, Emily Rosner lives every single day in pain. Sometimes she wakes up screaming in the middle of the night.
She suffers from migraines, nausea, vertigo, blindness, and fatigue, and is bedridden being too weak to walk. She’s physically and financially dependent on her mum Leanne, and she experiences debilitating cognitive dysfunction that leaves her confused and disoriented.
When Emily’s symptoms started, she saw hundreds of doctors to try to find an answer. She missed 70 per cent of her secondary schooling due to illness, but still managed to get into university.
When her condition deteriorated, however, she was unable to keep working and studying. Instead, she’s spent most of her 20s dependent on others to do basic daily tasks. Her mother bathes her, dresses her and prepares her meals.
But doctors in Australia won't recognise Emily's condition.
Emily has late stage Lyme disease. After years of suffering, she finally found a doctor who would diagnose her in 2015 and underwent a year of treatment. While she started to improve, the progress stopped - which is common for advanced Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is recognised in Europe, the US and Asia, where there are 300,000 new cases every year. But it's highly contentious in Australia. According to medical authorities, there isn't enough evidence to prove Borrelia-carrying ticks (those that cause Lyme disease) exist in Australia - meaning there is no agreed definition for the illness here, making it impossible to diagnose and treat. It's been acknowledged, however, that a locally-acquired form of Lyme disease can't be ruled out.
