Marie Huttley-Jackson said her 8-year-old daughter, Genavieve Jackson, was forced to see numerous doctors for the past 20 months after suffering some excruciating pain on her feet and body. But the mother said she was left with disappointment as her daughter had to see 23 doctors before receiving a diagnosis that she's suffering a rare illness, Lyme disease.
In 2012, Genavieve was diagnosed with Lyme disease after she was bitten by a tick on the central coast of New South Wales. Hence, she began complaining about the sore on her feet and her unusual severe body aches.
"There was a bump on the back of my shoulder and it was kind of itchy... I went over to my dad and he said it might be a tick," Genavieve recounted on ABC's 7:30.
Sadly, the little girl subsequently started losing sight. "When I lose my vision, it feels like I'm in a dark room with no doors, no windows, and it's night-time and you just can't see anything," Genavieve exclaimed.
Mrs Jackson said they went to a difficult process before they received the initial diagnosis. She said they visited 23 doctors and spent 20 months of searching trying to find out what was wrong with her daughter. "We got to the point we'd seen so many doctors, we called the doctors we didn't like by the number in the sequence of doctors that we'd seen," the distressed mother added. "Because we didn't think they deserved a name."
As of now, only 20 doctors in Australia are treating the said illness. But despite the set-back and the increasing number of the sufferers of the Lyme disease, Dr Peter Dobie said that he is "confident" discussing the matter because of the "increasing community awareness about the illness, certainly increasing awareness in the media and increasing awareness among politicians."
As for Mrs Jackson, after what they've been through, she said all she wants is that the alarming illness should be "recognized."
