GoFundFred

Hi, my name is Alison Kirkland. Most of you know me as Fred, but for those of you who do not know me, I go by Alison or Fred. Back in October of 2013, I experienced a really traumatic accident. I was at an ATV park with a couple friends, swimming in a pond. Out by the pond, is a platform that is about 13 feet high. The platform was made available for people to jump off of into the deeper areas of the pond. I had already watched a friend of mine jump off of the platform and come up out the water with no problem and figured that it would be safe. Unfortunately, I did not end up as lucky. When I jumped off, I ended up landing in extremely shallow water and basically crushed both of my legs. As I hit the ground, I had no idea how severely hurt I really was, until I tried to get up and 'walk' away. I had no idea that this harmless jump was going to completely change my life, nor did I know that I was going to experience as much pain as I did. My body was in shock. As I sat there in the shallow water, I had stared at my legs trying to motivate myself to get up and walk away and it was at that point that I was trying extremely hard not to cry because of how bad my legs realy looked. I had always been the 'strong' friend and I did not want people to see me cry, but at that point, I could no longer hold back the tears. I believe when I hit the ground, my knee hit me in the nose because I was pouring blood. I sat in the water as blood surrounded me trying to convince my friends that I was going to be fine, but from being in so much pain, I finally dropped my pride and admitted that I needed help. My friend scooped me up, put me in her truck, and raced me back to the front of the ATV park hoping to get me some serious and professional help. I was rushed, with lights and sirens, to the hospital in the back of the ambulance. I was in so much pain at that point that I wanted nothing more than for someone to help ease it. As I got to the hospital, they immediately ordered some xrays because it was very clear that I had broken more than a couple of bones. As the results came back, the doctor came over to talk to me and informed me that I had broke my tibia plateau in my right knee and had shattered (or in the Dr.'s words 'wrecked') my calcaneus (heel) bone, along with many other bones in my foot. He told me that he had to categorize my breaks as a 'stage 4 break' and that was because he had lost count on how many bones I had broke in my foot. Not to mention, I had also broke my left leg and left foot, but those were nowhere near as serious as my right leg injuries. My left leg and left foot was fixed by wearing a cast for 6 weeks and completing 5 weeks of physical therapy. I ended up having to stay in the hospital for 22 days after my accident. I was absolutely miserable and it was extremely hard for the nurses to get my pain under control and to keep it under control. My tibia plateau was fixed with a couple pieces of metal along with many staples. My right foot however, was not as easy to fix. I had a complete reconstruction surgery where the doctors basically rebuilt my foot with quite a bit of metal. Unfortunately, my body was not taking the metal like they expected it to causing me to develop an infection, which led to me having another surgery. I was officially at my lowest point in my life. I had almost all of my freedom taken away in an instant and was dependent on so many people. I had to completely put my life on hold, and for a 23 year old, it was extremely hard to handle and deal with. Depression came nowhere close to describing how I felt. Rock bottom, described it a little bit better. I had to withdraw from my classes in college, had to depend on others for the simplest things that people take for granted such as walking, bathing, driving, etc...I could do almost nothing on my own except cry. In January of 2014, I was still in a wheel chair and was still unable to walk. I had been doing physical therapy for a while and had completed the therapy for my left leg and foot, but was unable to complete the therapy for my right knee and foot because every time I turned around, I was being told that I needed to have more surgeries on my foot. In February of 2014, I had been through 5 painful surgeries JUST on my foot alone (2 of them being in a matter of 5 days). The last surgery that I underwent was going to be a 'make or break' surgery for me because this was going to determine if the doctors would be able to 'save' my foot. I had heard the word amputation from literally every doctor that I was currently seeing, which happened to be six different people. The last surgery, the doctors had to basically filet open my foot, had to remove a good bit of bone due to some serious infections, and also had to do a skin graft from the outside of my foot to cover my heel. I had been told that my blood work had came back positive for staph, osteomyelitis, and strep. Honestly, at that point, I had been preparing myself to hear that I was going to lose my foot considering I had already heard nothing but negative news. By the grace of God, and many prayers, we FINALLY had heard some positive news. They were able to save my foot, but I would need to have a picc line put in and was going to be on some really strong antibiotics to help kill the infections. After 8 weeks of feeling miserable due to the IV antibiotics, I had finally heard more positive news which included that I was currently infection free and could discontinue my antibiotics. At the end of March, I was FINALLY released to be able to go back to doing physical therapy. Physical therapy would be three times a week and I would basically be learning to walk again. As of right now, I can only 'scoot' around with the assistance of a walker. Since my accident in October, my surgeries have cost well over $100,000. Every time I turn around, I have some type of doctors calling or mailing me with more bills. Unfortunately with my accident, no degree, no transportation, and no ability to walk or drive, I am stuck with numerous bills and absolutely no way of paying them. This is by far one of the hardest and easily the most depressing thing that I have ever had to experience. For those of you who know me, know that I have always been the first person to help out others during hard times especially when I was able to do so, even if that required me to do or go without. Unfortunately, I have always been too stubborn to ask others for help when I need it, but I have no other choice at this point. I am officially dropping my pride and asking for all the help I can get. I have over $20,000 that I still owe in doctor bills and because I will continue to need the care and assistance that I receive from not only my doctors, but my physical therapists as well, that number continues to grow and will continue to grow until I am able to get back on my feet (literally). That number is what I owe even with insurance. I have to meet a $6,000 out of pocket deductible before the insurance covers any part of it. The money that I receive will go towards all of my doctor, hospital, and physical therapy bills. I am at one of the lowest points in my life and could use ANY sort of help and donation at this point. I chose $12,000 as my goal to be able to atleast meet my out of pocket deductibles from last year and this year. Since my accident, and because of all the surgeries I have had to go through, my foot is now deformed. I have been told that I will have to wear a special shoe and/or special inserts in my shoe the rest of my life which will also cost around $1,700 for ONE mold. For those of you who know me personally, know that this has been by far the worst thing I have ever had to go through. I have cried more tears since my accident than I have in my entire life. I am so thankful for each and every person that has been there for me and for each and every person that has taken the time to say a prayer for me. This whole experience has been extremely hard for me and has been such a meaningful lesson to me because I now appreciate each and every thing that I am able to do. ANY type of donation would be greatly appreciated and would be such a tremendous help. Thank you again to everyone for everything and may God bless each and every one of you.