KATE MORTIMER, 26, sustained a "catastrophic brain injury" at age six when a bacterial infection stopped her breathing.
One heart-breaking day changed Kate's life — and the lives of those who love her — forever.
She has needed full-time care ever since.
Her mother Gabrielle said every day for the past 20 years had been a battle to find the care her daughter required, and the money to pay for it.
"It has been a 24 hours a day, seven days a week, full-time job of having to more or less beg for help," Mrs Mortimer said from her Old Toongabbie home.
With no universal-funding system for the disabled, essential things need to be applied for from various sources.
For months Kate used an out-grown wheelchair that rubbed her skin raw, while her mother waited on $16,000 for a new one to be approved.
"Things like incontinence pads are a huge amount of money," Mrs Mortimer said.
"And things like transport; there's no government help."
Kate lives in full-time care at a home for people with high-needs in Kellyville and she has a support worker from Ability Options every day.
With $1 billion to pave the way for the National Disability Insurance Scheme announced in the federal budget, came some hope for the Mortimers.
"I just hope that this (insurance scheme) will be fast-tracked and that it will be all that it needs to be," Mrs Mortimer said.