Leanne loved sport, but when she contracted a rare condition, she suddenly found herself immobile…

At 19, I lived for sport. Basketball, athletics, swimming, running…you name it, I loved it. I was also studying for a diploma in sports administration and couldn’t wait till I could earn a living from my passion.

Then one day I was playing in a basketball tournament when I began feeling really tired and my legs started cramping. At the end of the day, I collapsed in a heap.

It was two weeks before I felt like my normal, energetic self again. I must have overdone it, I thought.

But over the next couple of months, I found it harder to go upstairs, to maintain my normal running pace and to stand for long periods.

Finally, when another basketball tournament wiped me out, I went to my GP. ‘You’ve got a virus,’ she said. ‘You’ll need to rest in bed.’

It helped, but I got worse again and went back. She suggested I try physio but it didn’t help, so I saw a sports physician, then a neurologist.

I’d had to stop playing all my sports and I’d also missed a lot of classes because of my fatigue. Over the next three months, the neurologist did dozens of tests on me. Finally, he had an answer.

‘I think Leanne has a rare form of nerve damage called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, or CIPD,’ he told my parents and me. I’d had glandular fever months earlier and it seemed that while my immune system was low, the virus had “attacked” my immune system, which in turn attacked my nervous system, leaving me with CIDP. Only one in 100,000 people have the condition, which can’t be cured – only controlled. I was glad to have a name for what I was going through, but of course I felt upset that it was something serious.

The neurologist recommended I take Intragam, a medication made from the plasma of donated blood. Every six weeks, I go into hospital and get plasma pumped into my blood in an effort to keep me stable.

I struggled to finish my diploma, but I finally got it and have been looking for a job for the past 18 months. I’m on a disability pension, but I’m hopeful of finding something eventually.

It’s pretty hard for someone who’d been so athletic to not even be able to get around without a walking stick. At times, I get depressed, but I always bounce back and concentrate on getting better.

Today, three years after I first got sick, I’m reliant on Intragam and will probably need it for the rest of my life.

People should know the importance of giving blood. If I could, I’d personally thank all the people whose donations are keeping me going. If it wasn’t for them, I hate to think where I’d be now. They’ve given me hope for the future.

Leanne Deltoso, 22, Bundoora, Vic