Emergency fund replenishment after wheelchair buy

The tl;dr: I'm disabled and spent all my savings on a wheelchair (as the NHS won't provide me with one), so and I'm really hoping for help with emergency money for cats and my car so I don't completely lose what little independence I have!


My name is Ru, and since the age of 14 I've struggled with chronic pain in my foot that's been so bad in the last 10 years that I've often been unable to walk - I can't rely on the pain being tolerable enough for essential things like going to the pharmacy or grocery shopping, and don't even try socialising.

 

In the last few years, I've also been struggling as I can't stand up without experiencing tachycardia (it looks like I might have PoTS, and I hope to see a specialist about it soon as the cardiologist I was assigned to isn't familiar with it and diagnosed me with neurocardiogenic syncope). On bad days, I faint if I stand up so have to remain sitting or lying down. On a typical day I can manage to stand for a few minutes before I'm exhausted, breathless, my heart is racing, I'm sweaty, woozy, and experiencing presyncope. If I have a good day, my heart races but I don't notice! (I often don't think twice about palpitations, as it's very normal for my heart rate to shoot up from 60 beats per minute when I'm sitting to 120+ when I stand, and I've been told for years that I'm just not trying hard enough, that I'm out of shape, etc.)

 

If I think about it, though, I don't have good days, only good hours. There isn't a single day in the last five years where I've been reliably able to do what I need to do. My legs in particular constantly feel like they're extremely heavy. I've come to realise I'm not stuck sitting down because I'm lazy, but because I'm exhausted.

 

Both the pain and the difficulty standing mean I can't consistently do the things I need to, never mind the things I want to. In order to try and improve my quality of life and as crutches no longer cut it, I decided to buy a wheelchair (you can't get one on the NHS unless you're unable to walk at all) so that I can do a little more each day. I'm trying to make my battle a little bit easier (being being trans, queer, autistic, having ADHD, EUPD, GAD, 'disordered eating', specific phobias, and living with two abusers is hard enough work without physical limitations keeping me trapped).

 

I don't have a support network around me, but I'm doing my best to try and move away from my abusive mother and abusive ex (or at least be more independent, because bad people love it when you can't look after yourself without them) but... I'm stuck. I've used up the money I'd saved so that I could buy the wheelchair, and I'd like to have that buffer back.

 

The reasons? My cats, and my car.

 

My two little babies are perfect terrors, I adore them (also another reason for the wheelchair: being able to feed them and not having to admit I can't do it, thereby giving my ex another reason why I'm unfit to keep them), and it's always been important to me to have money set aside for any vet bills that might occur. I get UC and the lowest level of PIP at the moment, so that covers their food, cat litter, insurance, and a few new toys every now and then, but UC doen't let you save, and you live in constant fear of UC and PIP being withdrawn.

 

My car is a very old Ford, probably not long for this world, but it's absolutely essential for me and my safety to have a car. If something happened to it now, I haven't got any backup, and I can't walk far enough to get to any shops or bus stops. Without a car, I'm completely trapped.

 

I'll attach the invoice - I decided that if I was getting a wheelchair, I wanted one I was going to really love and be happy to use. Probably a bit silly, I know, but I also need a more active model, and three people said the Quickie Life is a really good option (the demo was so much fun! I could move about and not worry about falling or fainting!).

 

 

 

I do have the money to pay the rest of the invoice, I wouldn't have placed the order if not, but it's now left me in a position where I've sacrificed the financial net I was trying to build for myself. (The wheelchair cost £1,500, so making £1,000 back would be absolutely incredible.)

 

If you've reached this far, thank you so much for reading. I've not done anything like this before, and I'm not used to asking for help at all, but any support - even sharing this - is very much appreciated. Thank you ^^

 

(Here's one of my little helpers/criminals having a rest with me)