Brian's Quest for a New Beginning
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Three years ago, I was diagnosed with Charcot Joint in first one foot, then the other. This uncommon condition is related to Diabetes. I had suffered from extreme foot pain and eventually had a foot that seemed to be turning at an angle, making it difficult to walk or stand. It took nearly eight months and six medical professionals to even get to this diagnosis, as Charcot Joint is not very well known.
Charcot destroys the bones, joints, and surrounding tissue in your feet. It can deform the entire shape of the foot, leave it too unstable to stand or walk on, or in my case, in conjunction with tight tendons, turn the foot to an angle until you are walking nearly on the side of your foot.
I was lucky in finding a surgeon who was willing and able to undertake the high-risk surgery to stabilize and repair my feet, The actual surgeries, which require the use of an external fixator device, were continuously delayed by a series of other health crises. After 13 surgeries in three years, I am finally in the last stages of my last foot surgery, which I hope will restore the function to my right foot.
I have been unable to work, drive, or even walk unaided since this all began. I have been living my life in a wheelchair in an inaccessible apartment. Where I live, I have to climb two flights of stairs to get into my apartment. Attempting to walk up the stairs led directly to me damaging my external fixator and to a leg fracture, which has complicated everything and will prolong my recovery.
Even after these surgeries, I may not have full function returned to both feet, and because of this, I am unable to continue to live where I do. Here is where I need your help. I cannot afford the additional expenses I have incurred from this final procedure, and I cannot currently afford to move. I need help to cover the expenses of finding, renting, and moving to a more accessible apartment and to help pay for the means to get me in and out of my current place.
In the next three weeks or so, I will need to find to get out of my apartment in order to have the external fixator removed. After I recover from that, I plan on looking for a new apartment and will be moving in early 2018.
Over the last few years, many of you have asked how you could help me, and while I dislike having to ask for financial assistance, this is what I need in order to find a way to live a higher quality of life.
Charcot destroys the bones, joints, and surrounding tissue in your feet. It can deform the entire shape of the foot, leave it too unstable to stand or walk on, or in my case, in conjunction with tight tendons, turn the foot to an angle until you are walking nearly on the side of your foot.
I was lucky in finding a surgeon who was willing and able to undertake the high-risk surgery to stabilize and repair my feet, The actual surgeries, which require the use of an external fixator device, were continuously delayed by a series of other health crises. After 13 surgeries in three years, I am finally in the last stages of my last foot surgery, which I hope will restore the function to my right foot.
I have been unable to work, drive, or even walk unaided since this all began. I have been living my life in a wheelchair in an inaccessible apartment. Where I live, I have to climb two flights of stairs to get into my apartment. Attempting to walk up the stairs led directly to me damaging my external fixator and to a leg fracture, which has complicated everything and will prolong my recovery.
Even after these surgeries, I may not have full function returned to both feet, and because of this, I am unable to continue to live where I do. Here is where I need your help. I cannot afford the additional expenses I have incurred from this final procedure, and I cannot currently afford to move. I need help to cover the expenses of finding, renting, and moving to a more accessible apartment and to help pay for the means to get me in and out of my current place.
In the next three weeks or so, I will need to find to get out of my apartment in order to have the external fixator removed. After I recover from that, I plan on looking for a new apartment and will be moving in early 2018.
Over the last few years, many of you have asked how you could help me, and while I dislike having to ask for financial assistance, this is what I need in order to find a way to live a higher quality of life.
Organizer
Brian DeLuca
Organizer
Essex, MD
