An Aberdeen mother was given a welcome shock on April Fools Day – with a huge funding boost in her fight against a debilitating illness.
Former nurse Shelley Adams was left in tears after receiving an anonymous £3,000 donation online.
Miss Adams, who lives in the Bridge Don, thought at first she had been the victim of a cruel prank, but, after speaking to friends and family, found it was genuine.
She stated: “On April 1, I went to update my fundraising page and somebody through the night had donated £3,000.
“My instant reaction was it was a very cruel April Fool.
“Then I realised somebody had made a massive donation and on that day I had gone past my first target of £4,000.”
The 31-year-old mother-of-two suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis that affects the spine.
She also has arthritis in her hip and a neurological condition called dystonia which causes the muscles in her hands and feet to severely cramp, as well as fybromyalgia – a rheumatic condition which causes widespread pain in her body.
She said: “I can be in hospital [with dystonia] for quite a long time when I get this, because I can’t stand, I can’t feed myself, I can’t dress or wash myself without having somebody to help me.
“It’s just one of those things they know I have, but they don’t know what triggers it.”
Miss Adams lives with her partner Rich and two children Taylor, nine, and Brooke, six.
She is hoping to buy a specialist bed with the funds, as well as a mobility scooter, so she can take her kids to the park.
She added: “The bed I’m going to buy looks like a normal bed. I can sleep in the same bed as my partner, but the side of my bed moves.
“I really struggle during the night and my partner has to physically turn me because I get too sore.
“Having this bed is going to be a huge thing to help me be independent during the night.”
Further fundraising is planned, with a ladies’ night in the pipeline and her sister Lauren is pulling on the trainers for a 10k race.
Any further donations will go towards a stair lift in future.