A DUBLIN WOMAN has turned to crowdfunding to pay for urgent medical treatment.

Denise Ryan (30), from Rathfarnham, contracted Lyme disease while living in Canada, a condition which went untreated for four years due to misdiagnosis.

Denise returned to Ireland two years ago and was finally diagnosed in 2014. Lyme disease, also known as Borreliosis, is a bacterial infection passed to humans through bites from an infected tick. She has had digestive and immune system problems since birth, with have exacerbated her condition.

She has already raised almost €20,000 of her €30,000 goal, and is due to fly out for treatment in Seattle later this month.

“When I first came home I didn’t tell anybody because I just figured that things would get better, but they got worse really fast. I knew I had to do something. Nowhere here can help me,” she told TheJournal.ie. 

Denise also has pneumonia, Epstein-Barr virus, gastroparesis, chronic gastritis, candida, strep and clostridia infections.

She had been taking long-term antibiotics but they’ve stopped working. She cannot absorb nutrients and has become very weak. She is regularly nauseous and her hair has fallen out.

“I don’t feel human any more.”

She said €30,000 is the minimum amount of money needed as her treatment will last at least three months. Doctors have told her that her condition may be terminal.

Denise said she feels “awful” having to ask people for money when she knows so many are struggling financially. She called her campaign ’3,000 tenners’ as this made her target seem more reachable.

In another fundraiser, she is calling for people to wear their ‘ugliest jumper’ at work this Friday and make a donation to her campaign.

“This is it, it’s my last chance,” she said.

More information on Denise’s campaign is available here. 

‘I was treated disgracefully’: Fears over possible widespread misdiagnosis of Lyme disease

Going to be outside this summer? Get protected against Lyme Disease says the HSE