A music fan who used to attend gigs "all the time" is fighting to get her independence back after a bought of medical conditions has left her in a wheelchair.
Heather Anderson, from Elderslie, lives with fibromyalgia and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) which dramatically worsened after she contracted Covid in 2020.
Since then, the 33-year-old says she is barely able to leave the house and is constantly exhausted and in pain.
Heather said: "I got COVID and everything just kept getting worse. The pain became constant. The exhaustion became ridiculous. I’d have days where my skin burned so badly I’d end up taking all my clothes off because even a t-shirt touching me felt unbearable.
"Most days you’ll find me in bed in my pyjamas, surrounded by heated blankets, cushions, braces, medication and basically an entire little pharmacy on wheels. On a really good day I’ll sit in the living room for a bit. Most days my biggest adventure is walking to the toilet.
"It’s strange grieving someone who’s still alive, especially when that someone is yourself."
When she does leave the house, Heather needs to use the NHS standard wheelchair which requires someone to push her around whish she admits makes her feel like a "burden."
However, after she recently attended a My Chemical Romance gig, it reignited her passion for music and her desire to be independent again.
After missing the accessible bus to Bellahouston Park concert, Heather's mum Pauline, who has just finished treatment for breast cancer, was adamant her daughter would get to the gig, pushing the chair up steep roads and hills.
Heather added: "My mum had recently finished chemotherapy for breast cancer and she’s still dealing with the after effects, especially the peripheral neuropathy in her hands.
"At the same time I’ve put on a lot of weight because of medication, PCOS and losing my mobility, so pushing me in a manual wheelchair isn’t exactly easy.
"Eventually even she couldn’t do it anymore and complete strangers stepped in to help get us the rest of the way.
"Here’s my mum, who’s already been through cancer, absolutely exhausting herself just so I could have one night where I got to forget about being ill."
Once they arrived at thee accessible viewing platform, Heather says being able to sing her heart out and forget about her illness for the first night in a while, which gave her the push she needed to motivate her to want better for herself.
This comes in the form of an electric wheelchair which would allow her to regain independence and no longer require someone to push her about.
Mum, Pauline, has now set up a fundraiser on Go Fund Me to help the family get the chair.
Pauline said: "The NHS wheelchair she's got is very heavy, cumbersome and someone has to push her.
"She always felt like she was a burden to everyone else because of the changes in her health but that's not her fault.
"I had to give up work. So it's difficult when you see you need something and you don't have the funds.
"We've been very much overwhelmed by the generosity of people. This chair would give her an overall better quality of life."
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