WHEN 22-year-old Tegan Murray fell ill three years ago, she never thought she
would still be suffering.
“At first I was just getting sick a lot, I had
really bad pain in stomach and pelvis,” she said.
“I had doctors telling me
you’re so young, it’s nothing and I thought I’d get better, but it
didn’t.
“They are still trying to figure out what’s wrong with me.”
Ms
Murray is currently studying a Certificate 4 in Animal Studies, and is aiming
towards Bachelor of Environmental Sciences.
Her ultimate goal is to study
purebred dingoes and work towards better conservation methods.
Suffering from
an as-yet unknown illness has meant she has been unable to hold down a full-time
job for the past three years, and made work experience difficult for her
studies.
“You feel like you’re stuck in one place and can’t go out because
you’re sick all the time,” Ms Murray said.
“At 22 you want to be out
improving your life, and taking that step towards a career and making a future
for yourself.”
Finding it difficult to deal with being out of work, she
decided last month to seek out a local support group, but only found a six week
course on chronic illnesses run by Swan Hill District Health.
“I was looking
for somewhere you can meet people and have a talk once a month to other people
who are living with long term conditions,” she said.
She decided to start
her own group, and posted a message on Swan Hill’s Swap, Buy and Sell Facebook
page and received positive feedback from a number of people.
Ms Murray has
now started her own Facebook page, Chronic Support Swan Hill, and is in the
process of looking for a place to hold monthly meetings.
“I’ve had a lot of
people say that if I started a group they’d come along,” she said.
“I just
think it would be good to have other people to talk to, who understand what it’s
like having a condition where you don’t know how you are going to feel in the
morning.”
She added that she was hoping to dispel some of the isolation that
came from having a long-term illness with no diagnosis.
“There a lot of
people who have chronic conditions, but because don’t have a label they’re not
taken as seriously.”
Anyone wishing to become involved with the group should
search for the Chronic Support Swan Hill Facebook page.
Swan Hill District
Health (SHDH) allied health assistant Kathryn Fitzmaurice said any sort of self
help group could be beneficial to someone with a long-term illness.
“It’s
good to be able to tell their story to someone who can understand what they’re
going through.” she said.
The SHDH six-week program, Living a Healthy Life
with Chronic Conditions, starts today at the community rehabilitation centre and
is aimed at educating people on how to manage their condition.
Ms
Fitzmaurice said no referrals were necessary, with latecomers welcome to attend.
