00:00Brianna loves spending time with her pets, but she's had to spend more time at home with
00:07them than she'd have liked.
00:10Earlier this year, she made the difficult decision to defer year 12 and the completion
00:15of her studies.
00:16It was quite depressing at first when they all moved out of the school, but I didn't.
00:25Missing out has been a feature of Brianna's life ever since she was diagnosed with cystic
00:29fibrosis shortly after birth.
00:32Sometimes my disability puts me in hospital for a certain amount of time where I physically
00:36cannot attend.
00:37Historically, Brianna has spent at least two months a year in hospital because of her chronic
00:44illness.
00:45She has probably had between 10 and 40% attendance throughout her life.
00:50Technology and help from a robot has helped Brianna stay in school as much as possible.
00:56But even when she's there, there's still stigma to contend with.
00:59They can be there at school, but the effort of being at school is taking all their concentration
01:05and energy, and they don't have anything left to actually listen to the lessons.
01:09Brianna contributes to a worrying statistic.
01:12Chronic Pain Australia estimates one in five children live with chronic pain, and those
01:17who do miss out on an average of 22% of their schooling and struggle to be taken seriously
01:22by teachers and peers.
01:24A lot of people in society think that chronic pain is just in a certain demographic.
01:28The long-term effects of chronic pain in childhood are quite staggering.
01:33Treating chronic pain is also a challenge.
01:36Chronic Pain Australia says there are only six paediatric pain clinics across the country,
01:40and it wants the federal government to fund more.
01:43But the health minister isn't making any commitments, and says the government is already funding
01:47a range of chronic pain initiatives for all ages.
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