Irish dancer Aimee Campbell, 29, has launched a GoFundMe as she battles what doctors say is the "most severe case" of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) in Ireland at the moment.
Aimee began Irish dancing when she was three years old, following in the footsteps of her mother Jenny Campbell, a TCRG (registered Irish dance teacher).
Aimee, who began her Irish dance journey with Jackie O’Leary Fanning ADCRG and later danced with Scoil Rince Uí Shé in Dublin before most recently dancing with David Moore in Co Louth, competed in major Irish dance championships - the Ulsters, the All-Irelands, and is proud to have placed at the World Championships.
Our Aimee in action ????
Posted by David Moore School of Irish Dancing on Sunday, April 3, 2016
Aimee recently explained how her illustrious Irish dance career was curtailed by her severe health problems.
"When I finished school, I wanted to be closer to home [in Co Louth] and David Moore became my dance teacher," Aimee said.
"David was my lucky charm!
"I danced with David from the age of 17 until my health took a turn for the worst.
"While dancing with David, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. I carried on competing after having part of my large and small intestines removed.
"We all thought that was the end of my health issues and so I carried on.
"One day in 2017, a couple of days after dance class, I woke up with no feeling in my legs. From there it started to travel to my whole body, leaving me paralyzed in ICU fighting for my life.
"After an intense four months in hospital, I was discharged after making almost a full recovery with my bladder being the only complication - from this point, I was going to require a urinary catheter for the rest of my life.
"As the years went by, I would suffer with infections every so often, but just put it down to my immune system and the catheter.
"It wasn’t until 2021 when my paralysis returned, this time in my legs, that I was then diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND).
"FND is a neurological condition where the brain will not send signals to your body parts to work, therefore paralyzing you. In most cases, it can be a relapse and remission type illness. FND can affect any part of your body from your speech to your limbs to your eyes. It is such a widespread and complicated illness.
"Again, I powered through and after a couple of months, I made a good recovery.
"In July 2023, I was in work, and again, all of a sudden, my left arm wouldn’t move. By that night, both my legs stopped working.
"By the end of the week, I was having two to three seizures a day, vomiting, extreme pain, nausea, bloating, and much more.
"Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I then lost the ability to swallow.
"I spent five months in hospital until I was discharged with no improvement."
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Aimee continued: "Fast forward to today. I am still having seizures, extreme pain, nausea, vomiting, catheterised, and I have a feeding tube where I receive all my medications, fluids, and feed because of my swallowing I cannot eat or drink.
"I am unable to sit unaided as I am like a floppy rag doll.
"Where my calves were once envied by some, they are without a doubt not envied now!
"Unfortunately, I have been told I am currently the most severe case of my condition in Ireland right now, and even worse, there are no doctors who specialise in FND in Ireland.
"A year later from my flare-up starting, I am deteriorating rather than improving and sadly there is very little hope of an improvement at all.
"With that being said, a treatment program has opened up in a private hospital in London with all FND specialists.
"As it is a private hospital, this comes with a huge cost.
"I am currently trying to fundraise to get this treatment. I first need to raise enough to have a consultation where, if accepted, they will put together a dedicated treatment plan.
"From there, the real fundraising begins, as this treatment can be anywhere from £40,000 - £130,000."
Aimee's GoFundMe, which she launched earlier in July, has raised more than €13,000 of its €15,000 target as of Friday evening.
On her fundraising page, Aimee writes: "The cost of this treatment is beyond affordable but I cannot sit at home wondering if this was my chance at living a meaningful life again and what if? What if this would have worked? What if I could get walking, or eating or even drinking a sip of water again?"
Aimee, who is now an FND Ireland Awareness Ambassador, says that if there are funds left over after her treatment, they will go to a well-needed charity.
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Aimee further said: "As you can imagine, going from being a person who danced and trained as an athlete to now not being able to move is extremely difficult both mentally and physically.
"I only wish for the old Aimee, the dancer Aimee that I once was.
"I will never get that Aimee back but with this treatment I hope a little glimmer of who I was will peep through those clouds."
You can learn about Aimee Campbell's GoFundMe here.
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