Amelia Hill, 41, has been plagued with extreme sensitivities since she was 15 following an exposure to termite spray. Photo / GoFundMe
Amelia Hill, 41, has been plagued with extreme sensitivities since she was 15 following an exposure to termite spray. Photo / GoFundMe
A woman is forced to live in a single sealed, toxin-free room and sleep on the bathroom floor as she is allergic to almost everything in the outside world.
Amelia Hill, nicknamed "woman in a bubble", lives as a prisoner in her own Adelaide home and is struggling to surviveas her health worsens.
The 41-year-old says she suffers disabling 'allergic' type reactions that can last from hours to weeks ever since she was exposed to termite spray when she was 15 years old.
She says she sometimes experiences 24-hour non-stop loops of 'symptomatic mayhem' that causes her immense physical pain, rashes, fatigue and can leave her unconscious.
And even something as simple as the waft of a cleaning agent can send her into a dizzying symptom relapse, which she says closes her windpipes and almost kills her.
Ms Hill spent years without a concrete diagnosis and suffered her inexplicable symptoms alone while doctors labelled her a hypochondriac, reported the Daily Mail.
She was finally diagnosed at the age of 33 with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Electrohypersensitivity.
The former fashion designer worked with luxury brands and was even appointed editor of a magazine at the age of 21.
But by the time she was 30, Ms Hill's crippling hypersensitivity reached its peak and stopped her from realising her dreams as she was forced to accept she would never regain her health.
Amelia needs emergency care but she cannot go to the hospital. Photo / GoFundMe
Despite her efforts, the outside world often permeates Ms Hill's sealed room, and her condition has deteriorated to the point where she says she can no longer hold her body upright, her respiratory muscles are weak and she struggles to breathe.
She says the smallest triggers cause her physical pain and overwhelming fatigue.
One occasion, a neighbour's chemical-based cleaner drifted in through vents and windows and made her airways close up. It left her shaking in the corner of the room, drifting in and out of consciousness.
Ms Hall must furiously type her blog posts on her mobile before her phone's electrical field wreaks havoc with her hypersensitive body.
"It was horrific," Ms Hill recalls in her blog.
"When the landlord switched the shower water from rain water to main water, my body rejected that too.
"My mum then carted in bottles of twice filtered water and bathed me from a bucket. Sleeping in a newly vacuumed house sent me to the emergency room."
Living in long-term isolation in a glass-home on Adelaide Hills is a lonely life for Ms Hill as she cannot have visitors and is forced to eat from a rotation of only seven foods.
Her body rejects almost everything that healthy people take for granted: books, magazines, furniture, clothes, computers, television, wifi, perfume and even people.
Despite doing everything in her power, the crippling condition has ravaged her body and she says she will only become sicker without urgent medical help.
Her illness means she cannot visit a hospital and medical bills have piled up as she fights her symptoms.
Ms Hill's friend Jenny Buttaccio set up a Gofundme page to help raise money for in-home specialist visits, treatments and essential medical equipment.
So far the page has helped raise over $12,000 for the "woman in the bubble".
Ms Buttaccio said: "Amelia confided in me that she has started to lose hope, and she's feeling scared for her life. She doesn't want this to be the end of her story. She still has so much more to give.
"Unfortunately, it breaks my heart to report her health has taken a turn for the worse. No one is sure why she has deteriorated so dramatically."
Ms Hill details her illness and how it affects her life in her blog, which she uses to educate others about her rare and debilitating condition.
"Stripped bare of all potential triggers, my single room existence equalled a tiled floor and a small fold out bed. All my possessions went into storage," Ms Hill wrote.
