Hi, my name is Ashley and I broke my arm 3 years ago. What was I doing? - standing in my back yard watching my dogs play. I've got lots of cool xrays to share on my phone but unfortunately no cool stories. I wasn't skiing or boating or trying a double back flip.

I'm so thankful my hand still works; and I have many, many other things to be grateful for. But I do not have two functioning arms.

That's why some amazing friends have come together for Arms Over Ashley. I'm about to book my 4th surgery, and I'm really needing it to be a good one! They're trying to help relieve this burden. That the gist, but if you like details, scroll away, my friends.

WHAT HAPPENED?

My dog, Olly, was scared to death of everything when we adopted him. And the first day I thought he was actually going to chase a toy I threw, he instead ran straight into me, from behind, at full speed, over a concrete path. I landed on my back with both arms on one side of my body (behind me). Blegh.

Anyone who's been greeted enthusiastically by Olly with his signature head butt, or attempted to snuggle him on the couch can attest to his density and super contact power despite the fact that he's just an 80 lb lap dog. Yes, we still have him. Yes, I still think he's great. And YES, he did sort of learn how to play - eventually.

MEDICAL STEPS

My first surgery was an IM nail. For some reason it failed. The second surgery was removal of the IM nail since it was migrating out of my arm (through my shoulder). The third surgery was 2 plates and 10 screws. That one seemed to go well, but two months later I fell again. This fragmented the initial clean break into several, complicated pieces, though still technically in the realm of the existing hardware. We then spent a year watching it, hoping my body would make do with what it had to work with.

All in all, I've tried surgeries, physical therapy, rest, stabilization in many different forms, braces, wraps, ointments, creams, supplements, comfrey, grounding, bone stimulators, some other electro therapy things I can't explain, acupuncture, massage, juicing, more supplements. I've optimized in any way I could think of including high protein clean diet, breath work, sunlight, LOL.

What I have is called a functioning non-union.

WHAT NOW?

I need the next surgery to be the pull out all the stops surgery to actually get my arm to heal. The goal is to get several upper arm extremity specialist to agree upon an approach, and then to choose the surgeon I trust the most.

I'm a ballet teacher, an interior designer, and I love to DO. I especially love working with my hands. I long to climb a ladder again, dig in the yard, build things, go out of town without a chaperone.

Since I've broken my arm, I've changed offices at work, changed jobs, moved to another town, quit my career and relaunched my own business, started a garden. It's been a very challenging season as I feel like my life has sort of been on hold because I am dependent on everyone for just about everything. That doesn't even mention what my husband has gone through.

If you've read this far, I'm honored. Thank you for being a part of my story. If you have your own emergencies to pay for or crises to manage, I hope you have someone you can talk about it to who understands. Any proceeds received here will go straight to paying for my 4th surgery. And maybe I'll meet my goal of doing a pushup by summer 2025.