Overseas Treatment for Tanya Dupagne

UPDATE: We have hit our first target of $50,000 to get Tanya to Cyprus. Our next goal is to take the total to $60,000 to help cover the recovery costs of treatment, including additional procedures whilst in Cyprus, medications in the months following treatment, essential equipment recommended by the clinic and rehab costs back at home. This will take some of the financial pressure off Tanya as she recovers from the treatment (expected to be a 6-8 month process) and let her concentrate on getting better. We are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported our campaign so far!

This is more about Tanya's story and why we are raising this money:

For the past 20 years, Tanya Dupagne OAM has worked with over 150,000 children around the world, primarily children affected by trauma and torture situations.

Tanya has dedicated her life to helping others, working over 120 hours per week for years to ensure those affected by trauma have the best chance for success. You don’t have to look far to find one of the tens of thousands of people who say Tanya changed their life, or that they are alive today because of the work Tanya did with them. Now though, Tanya is the one who desperately needs help.

From American summer camp to volunteering in Africa and Vietnam, running community programs in her hometown of Kwinana, becoming CEO of a charity helping those affected by domestic violence, founding and running the internationally recognised Camp Kulin program and most recently being an advocate for people with disabilities, Tanya has always gone out of her way to assist others.

Her work has been recognised in many ways. These include being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2024; an Honorary Doctorate from Edith Cowan University for contribution to community; being a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow and a Westpac Social Change Fellow; AgriFutures Australian and Western Australian Rural Woman of the Year; one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 most influential Australian women; listed on Country Style Magazines Top 30 people, places and events of the past 30 years in regional Australia; overall winner for the person contributing most to child safety in WA; Rotary Youth Leadership Award; City of Kwinana Citizen of the Year and Power 30 Under 30 Award.

In 2019, Tanya’s life turned upside down. She had shown many medical symptoms for years, and doctors all agreed something was seriously wrong, but nobody could diagnose what the issue was. Tanya had continued to work and give back to others despite her rapidly deteriorating condition.

Eventually, blood tests from an internationally recognised laboratory overseas (Armin Labs) revealed the problem. While working at a summer camp for underprivileged and at risk children in America many years before, in what we now know was a Lyme endemic area, Tanya was bitten by a tick. When the tick bit her, it injected the Lyme bacteria, along with a number of co-infections, into her bloodstream. For years, these bacteria were swirling around her body undetected, getting into every part of it.

It took so long to diagnose because Lyme Disease is not a recognised disease in Australia. By the time Tanya was tested, her body was severely impacted. Testing by a cardiologist revealed she has severe Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). This means every day Tanya reaches dangerous heart rates and blood pressures by doing something as simple as standing up. This is directly linked to her tick borne illnesses.

A urological surgeon has diagnosed her with bladder issues requiring regular treatment in hospital, and there is significant damage to muscles and tendons in both her legs, requiring solid plastic braces to hold them up. She has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, with a fatigue score of 49/50.

As Lyme Disease is not recognised in Australia, treatment of the cause of her problems (the tick borne illnesses) is not permitted. Tanya’s illnesses have now reached the chronic stage, and despite treatment of some symptoms, she has continued to deteriorate.

For the past four years, she has been unable to work, unable to drive and unable to leave the house unaccompanied. She requires either a walker or a wheelchair and regularly passes out from her heart complications.

Even so, she has continued to give back where she can, becoming an Ambassador for the Lyme Disease Association of Australia, Co-chair of the City of Kwinana’s Access and Inclusion Reference Group, advocating for people with disability and mentoring those setting up and running their own social enterprises.

With more and more medical complications arising, her main Australian doctor’s retirement not far off and Tanya struggling to get through each day, we have begun looking at overseas treatment options.

The option that has been deemed best for Tanya is to travel to Cyprus to undergo what is expected to be an intensive two month treatment program, followed by a six month recovery period back in Australia.

The treatment includes thorough medical examinations, daily doctors appointments, cardiological and neurological examinations, IV saline ozone sessions, 10 pass ozone therapy of the blood, daily patient specific high dose IV treatments, thermography, IV laser eradication of blood pathogens, autohemotherapy, physiotherapy, light therapy, patient specific remedial/lymphatic massage, colonic hydrotherapy, infrared treatment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

This clinic has been chosen because it not only tackles the Lyme Disease, but all of Tanya’s co-infections, autonomic dysfunction and other complications as well.

Long term, the treatment has proved hugely successful for a large number of patients, including those who are chronically/seriously ill, as Tanya is.

Tanya’s goal after treatment is to be able to be well enough to tackle some day to day activities, keep walking, decrease the number of days she is completely bedridden, halt disease progression and significantly improve her current condition.

This will mean Tanya is able to continue to give back to the community as she has for many years, and be well enough to advocate for change in the disability sector, particularly for other Lyme patients.

After four years of being unable to work and huge medical/surgery bills, mortgage payments and increased cost of living, Tanya’s savings have diminished.

We are trying to raise the money we need for Tanya to be able to undergo this treatment. This includes the two month treatment program itself, airfares, accommodation and medication protocols following the clinic treatment (likely to be 6 months of at home recovery and protocols back in Australia).

Tanya has touched so many lives in so many ways, it’s time now for her to be on the receiving end of community support. Donations of any amount will make a huge difference, and if you are unable to donate, we’d love for you to share this page.

Some links about Tanya if you’d like to know more:

Camp Kulin - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-06/the-wa-youth-camp-changing-lives/8423094 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc0p1PGqFuU

ECU Honorary Doctorate Recipients - https://www.ecu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/935970/Honorary-Awards-Presented-by-ECU-to-date.pdf

AgriFutures Rural Women’s Awards - https://agrifutures.com.au/news/tanya-dupagne-wins-prestigious-award/

Churchill Fellowship Profile - https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/tanya-dupagne-wa-2012/

Order of Australia Announcement - https://govhouse.wa.gov.au/2024/01/86-western-australians-recognised-in-the-2024-australia-day-honours-list/

Westpac Social Change Fellowship Announcement - https://scholars.westpac.com.au/news/social-change-fellowship-news/Westpac-Scholars-Trust-announces-2019-Social-Change-Fellows/

Child Safety Awards - https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/dreams-come-true-at-camp-kulin-ng-ya-375190

Lyme Diagnosis - https://womensagenda.com.au/business/tanya-dupagnes-chronic-illness-diagnosis-has-given-the-camp-kulin-founder-a-new-purpose/