Jade Hunter has spent years seeking recognition and help for a debilitating illness linked to ticks.
The Salt Ash resident is among hundreds of people in Australia with Lyme disease-like conditions that the medical system has struggled to help.
A Senate inquiry into tick-borne illness in 2016 led to a new "clinical pathway" to support medical decisions and diagnosis.
It also led to a National Health and Medical Research Council grant to Murdoch University to study DSCATT (Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks).
The research is examining "troublesome ticks" and the causes of DSCATT in Australia.
Dr Siobhon Egan, of Murdoch University, said "at the end of our research program, we hope to provide insight into what Australian ticks can transmit to humans".
Dr Egan said the study also aimed to "identify and help patients that are suffering ongoing symptoms post-tick bite".
Mrs Hunter welcomed the study, saying "I like that they're doing something that could help us".
At her worst in 2017, Mrs Hunter was in a wheelchair, had trouble speaking and struggled with memory and cognition.
She suffered black outs, couldn't eat, lost feeling in her left side and had nerve pain.
"I was 10 per cent functional. I couldn't even have a shower by myself," she said.
Now aged 32, she has improved. She has a 4-year-old son named Lenny and is a second-year law and criminology student.
However, she still lives with symptoms.
"It's the chronic fatigue that doesn't go away, the aches and pains and my walking can be affected," she said.
"There's a lot of anxiety in the back of my mind that doesn't really go away because there's no cure, but you can go into remission.
"Physically if you look at me, you wouldn't know I'd been through it."
She is sharing her story to mark Lyme Disease Awareness Month.
The bacteria that causes Lyme disease - Borrelia burgdorferi - has not been found in ticks or any other insect in Australia.
So the federal government does not support the diagnosis of locally-acquired Lyme disease. Instead, it recognises patients with DSCATT.
It acknowledges that "many patients experiencing debilitating symptom complexes are living in turmoil because their illness cannot be easily diagnosed and treated".
Mrs Hunter says it remains difficult to find doctors to treat her condition.
"When I first got sick I was sent to hospital with suspected Guillain-Barre syndrome and then MS (multiple sclerosis).
"They later ruled both of those out."
At hospital, she was given a lumbar puncture and MRI.
"At that point, I couldn't walk. Then they sent me home and said do rehab and referred me to a psychiatrist. He said 'it's in your head'."
Another doctor tested her and suggested she had Lyme disease.
Others with similar symptoms can be diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and functional neurological disorder (FND).
"I also got diagnosed with conversion disorder. FND is the new, nicer name for it," Mrs Hunter said.
Mrs Hunter said it was "frustrating for me to see people with long COVID getting acknowledged".
"People in the tick-borne illness community have been fighting for years to get help and our symptoms recognised."
Dr Egan said research into ticks and tick-borne diseases in Australia was "about 50 to 60 years behind that in the northern hemisphere".
"Over the last decade our research group at Murdoch University has found numerous unique and novel microorganisms in Australian ticks and wildlife," Dr Egan said.
She said they were "related to tick-borne infectious agents described in the northern hemisphere".
"However, the difficult part is identifying which of these organisms can be transmitted to humans and cause subsequent illness.
"This is something we are actively investigating."
