Show Notes
Most people underestimate just how much living with a chronic illness can shape your entire life and how much resilience it takes to keep going.
In this episode we talk about Harriet’s story of diagnosis from infancy, the raw reality behind the medical rollercoaster and the emotional toll of feeling different from everyone else.
More from Outside the Waiting Room
Episode 8: Chronically Ill, Chronically Unsupported Because apparently being sick isn't hard enough. Living with chronic illness is challenging enough without having to fight the very systems designed to support you. In this episode, we're getting into some of the harder conversations around living with chronic illness in New Zealand. From financial support that disappears because your partner earns "too much", to overwhelmed hospitals, endless waiting lists and the exhausting reality of having to constantly advocate for yourself. Livvy shares her personal experience of losing financial independence because of how the Supported Living Payment is assessed, while Harriet talks about the growing fear of needing hospital care when the healthcare system is already stretched to its limits. We're not here to get political. We're here to talk about what these decisions and systems actually mean for the people living with them every day. Because being chronically ill shouldn't mean being chronically unsupported. And resilience shouldn't be a requirement for getting the help you need. We'd love to hear from you. Have you experienced similar challenges accessing healthcare or financial support, whether in New Zealand or elsewhere? Because life happens outside the waiting room. 💜
Motherhood, fertility, and relationships can take on a different dimension when chronic illness is part of the equation. In this episode, Harriet and Olivia talk candidly about living with lupus and the questions, emotions, and medical decisions that can shape future plans. Together, they explore how health can affect relationships, intimacy, and the deeply personal decision of whether to start a family.
The jump from paediatric care to adult services can feel like getting dropped off a cliff, and for chronically ill patients, nobody warns you how hard that landing can be. Harriet and Livvy unpack what it really means to grow up inside the health system, from childhood hospital memories to the grief, confusion, and sudden self-advocacy that come with aging out of paeds.
Too sick for healthy people, too healthy for sick people. If you have ever felt stuck in that in-between world, this conversation will hit home. We get honest about what it really means to try to fit in with a chronic illness, why that pressure gets so much heavier in your teens and twenties, and how the cost of pushing through can follow you for years.
When chronic illness and work collide, the real question is not "Can you do the job?" it's "What does it cost you to keep doing it?" Harriet and Livvy get brutally honest about the hidden energy tax of working while chronically ill, from commuting, appointments, and office expectations to the constant pressure of deciding what to disclose, when to speak up, and how much to push.