A model has said she owes her life to OnlyFans – after she took up selling saucy snaps to pay for autoimmune disease treatment and now earns £5,000 a month.
Rachael Huckle, 37 - known online as “Ivy Tenebrae” – signed up to the website in late 2019 after she fell severely ill with pemphigus.
The rare condition causes painful blisters to erupt throughout her digestive system including mouth, nose, throat and bowel.
Rachael claims she was unable to get the treatment she needs on the NHS – having been on the waiting list to see a specialist for three years.
She says she turned to selling racy pictures on adult site OnlyFans to fund private treatment for medication, oral surgeries and nerve blockers to help ease her symptoms, costing £2,000 a month.
She makes up to £5,000 a month from her page, which also helps pay for private GP visits, medication and surgery.
Rachael, a former legal executive, from Wrexham, Wales, said: “I owe my life to OnlyFans.
“The community is so supportive and I'm very lucky to have OnlyFans to help me treat my illness. Her fans are aware of her health condition and how the site has “saved her life”.
“I'm struggling with a long-term illness and I have flare ups. Sometimes my skin is really inflamed, or I bleed so much to the point that I'll faint walking up the stairs,” she said. “I've had chronic cluster headaches which are honestly awful, I'll have to spend three days in the dark because of them.
She continued: “I'm still really struggling to get seen by doctors, so I'm self-funding quite a lot of treatment. I've had four procedures recently including oral surgeries and I may have to have a hysterectomy because I'm losing so much blood.
“An oral surgery, I might need a hysterectomy and I need nerve blockers in my head as I've been having awful cluster headaches - but those are going to cost £4,000 a year. It's hard juggling everything, it's like a double edged sword.
“If I didn't have this creative outlet, the support and be lucky enough to have the income, I don't know what I'd do.”
As a result of her illness, Rachael was first admitted to hospital when she was nine years old after getting persistent kidney infections. She also experienced pain in her throat while eating and difficulty swallowing.
She spent the next nine years of her life in hospital while doctors struggled to diagnose her “mystery” illness. Her difficulty eating saw her weight plummet to just under four stone and she was misdiagnosed with anorexia.
Over the years Rachael's health continued to decline and it affected her everyday life. She experienced severe exhaustion, joint pain and swelling in her face and tongue that would leave her unable to speak.
She was also rushed into hospital several times and had to carry around an epi-pen in case her condition was due to an allergy. Eventually she was unable to work and lost her job at a legal firm – so she turned to the website for financial support.
Thanks to the money she makes, Rachael was able to pay for private treatment and get to the bottom of her illness. She was diagnosed with pemphigus - a rare immunobullous autoimmune disease – in 2014 which results in blistering and erosion of the skin.
She now also does live-streaming and is training to become a councillor to help support other people with chronic, life-threatening autoimmune diseases.
Rachael said: “Some days I couldn't get out of bed. I constantly had painful blistering and lost so much blood in my stool I needed a transfusion.
“I lost my job because I was constantly unwell and couldn't figure out why. I had absolutely no quality of life and I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die.”
Rachael has only been able to be seen by a gastroenterologist - a specialist who deals with bowel issues - but says she desperately needs to be seen by a rheumatologist specialising in autoimmune conditions.
She claims there are no rheumatologists near her, and she is having to “fight” to be seen by one in Liverpool.
She uses over half of her income from OnlyFans on private healthcare, while also paying tax contributions to the NHS.
She added: “Living with this illness is truly awful. You lose relationships and friendships.
“I've had to have blood transfusions and my iron levels are so low that sometimes I'll just be walking up the stairs and black out. I can't get insurance either because having a pre-existing health condition disqualifies you.
“My work has kept me going. I'm paying my tax contributions for the NHS but I'm also having to pay privately and even take loans out. OnlyFans has been honestly life-saving. I'm very lucky because I know a lot of other people with similar conditions who are struggling but can't pay for the treatment. If I didn't have OnlyFans I don't know what I'd do.”
SWNS
