Edit: Katie had surgery today at 730am. She is out and recovering at home now. She had a plate with 7 or 8 pins/screws on the fibula side and screws put in on the bottom of tibia. No weight-bearing for minimum of 12 weeks. A big Thank you to Dr. Joshua Carroll and the team at McClaren Oakland hospital.

Hello. My name is Katie Lada. I recently went camping and broke my ankle on both sides. The fibula and tibia. The fibula is the main fracture and the tibia is a bone on the other side that has chipped on the end. I unfortunately am going to need surgery(s) to have it heal correctly. If I do not do the surgery, the bones won't heal right and I won't be able to put weight on it.

At the time of the injury, I was at my favorite time of year, Wheatland Music Festival. I was walking back to camp and tripped walking through woodchips that may have had a small stump sticking out. I went immediately to camp medical and ended up going to Mount Pleasant E.R.

( Big thanks to Russell Raftary for driving me there in the middle of the night ). They did a bunch of X-Rays and the E.R. doctor said it was most likely I would need surgery. My Mom and step-dad Dale met me there and took me back to their house in Beaverton, MI. They took care of me for the next few days while we figured out where to go from there. I already have a Podiatrist in Novi, MI so we made the appointment for consult to see Dr. Kevin Sorenson, Foot and Ankle specialist. He told me the bad news and said, yes there should be surgery.

I have applied for Medicare and other government help in this time of need and am waiting to get approved.

All my parents-- Mom (Jackie), Dad (Marty), step-mom ( Trish), and step-dad (Dale) are all retired. Im sure they are going to help out as much as they can, but I do not want to put the stress and burden on them because of my accident. I have been working in the restaurant industry since 18 years old, (now 38) and it is a ton of walking and standing on your feet all day. Clearly, I won't be able to do that anytime soon- which is my main and only income. I will be looking for jobs to do at home but I know they are hard to come by.

So this brings me here.

I am swallowing any pride I have and asking for any type of help through this time of need. Any money donated will be going straight to the surgery costs, other medical expenses, and recovery time out of work.

If anyone knows me, they know it is very hard for me to ask for help, but when you need it, you need it. I find this tacky and maybe silly to set this up by myself, but I wanted to give the story out from me. Anything at this point can help out tremendously.

Thank you!