Help Erin Avoid Amputation

Hi, my name is Erin. I worked as a sole business owner and massage therapist here in Bloomfield Michigan where I worked to help others heal. I had a medical massage practice for years where I was honored to help others through hip surgeries, car accidents, knee and shoulder replacement and I taught infant massage to new parents.

In 2018 I was told I needed an ankle surgery. I had three lateral ligaments detach from overworking and a heel spur and accessory bone cutting into my peroneal tendons.

Ive been a climber and competitive climber and also ice climber for 20 years. I’ve had terrible pain since surgery in 2018 because the surgeon did the surgery wrong and ended up entrapping a lot of my main nerves which unfortunately has developed into Complex Regional Pain Syndrome as well as I suffered a spontaneous aneurysm rupture in my pelvis causing significant debilitating nerve pain and damage. CRPS is considered incurable and also considered one of the most painful syndromes to exist. It’s often called “the suicide disease” because it is so painful that many people have decided it’s just too much to take, even with medication.

Now right now I desperately need to try anything that I can to avoid amputation surgery. CRPS and the aneurysm rupture I experienced has caused me to be bed bound now for three years. I can’t walk or sit. My climbing and life as I know is over until I can get the nerve pain under control. I cannot work. I’ve had over seven surgeries in the last three years both with neurosurgery and orthopedic as well as vascular but unfortunately CRPS is very hard to treat so I am now having to consider amputation in order to regain some semblance of my former life back and to gain quality of life. 

I have very few options left but there is a therapy called Scrambler Therapy that is non invasive and can help retrain my nervous system to stop sending these extremely painful signals to my brain however the treatment costs are not covered by insurance although it’s FDA approved. I’m barely able to feed myself every month because of not being able to work and it’s been only by the grace of a good friend that I’ve been able to stay housed. The treatment would be at least ten days in a row and can only be performed by an advanced certified scrambler Dr./ Therapist for crps. There are few places in Michigan that even offer scrambler therapy because it’s only been on the market  since 2008. So I would have to have a friend take me to an out of state facility and I’d have to stay for at least a half of a month in a motel while I get treatment daily. 

Please help me raise enough to go. I really want to avoid amputation if at all possible and that means trying all of my options. There is no guarantee it will work but there is a large group of people suffering with CRPS who have had great success. I hope you can help me and I thank you so much for caring. 

It would mean the world to me to be able to walk and hike and work again. This disease has taken everything from me. 

The next option after scrambler therapy is a dorsal root ganglion spinal cord stimulator, however insurance also doesn’t like to cover this so the reason my target goal is so high is because between scrambler and spinal surgery it is going to cost a whole lot out of pocket and I have nothing now. (Besides love of course) . Thank you again friends. I can’t express how hard this has been or how deeply I appreciate you. This gofundme was started about a year into my disability journey and injuries in 2023, it’s been active a while but has been updated and goals edited as needs have arisen.