Help Ace Tilton Pay For Hip Labral Reconstruction!

in a perfect world, i have an extremely concerned and caring best friend who is writing the copy for this fund-raiser, someone who is deeply invested in my healthcare needs and vouching for how much i deserve assistance with my medical fundraiser. 

in a perfect world, i don’t have to have three surgeries in eight months. 

the reality is that i do have to have yet another surgery and i am, unfortunately, the person who knows what i need and how much i have to raise better than anyone else.

i have hypermobile ehlers danlos syndrome  (hEDS), a degenerative condition that causes my body to make collagen incorrectly at a genetic level. collagen, it turns out, is in every single part of your body. it is the building blocks and the mortar of your skeleton, your tendons and muscles, and all your organs. lots of things go very wrong when your body doesn’t construct collagen correctly. so far, this has meant that my joints dislocate very easily from things like sneezing or sleeping wrong. it has also meant complications like endometriosis, fibroids, ovarian cysts, dysautonomia (dysregulation of my nervous system) and torn labrums in both my hips.

since 2013, i have had five major surgeries and too many minor procedures to count. (TMJ arthrocentesis and then arthrotomy with placement of mitek anchor, bunionectomy, total hysterectomy , left hip labral repair, strabismus surgery, an uncountable number of epidurals and radiofrequency ablations and trigger point injections and ketamine infusions.) 

the latest orthopedic surgery was performed on my left hip. almost four years ago, i tore my hip labrums—the ring of cartilage that cushions the joint and holds the ball of my femur securely within the socket. i wasn’t doing anything fun when they tore, just walking. besides the tears, i also was diagnosed with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), a condition where extra bone grows along the bones that make up the hip joint leading to bone on bone rubbing. 


i waited for as long as i could through three years of intense pain before my ortho and i decided it was time to move forward with surgical intervention. in mid-october 2020, i had an arthroscopic hip synovectomy, a femoroplasty, an acetabuloplasty, and a labral repair: a bunch of fancy words for trying to get my hip to stop screaming pain at me. the costs for this surgery were significant: an hEDS-familiar physical therapist, passive-motion machines for at-home PT, the surgeon’s fees, the anesthesiologist’s fee, the hospital fees, the out-of-pocket maximum for our insurance. the hEDS-familiar PT does not accept insurance, so my weekly sessions were (and in the future must be paid for) out of pocket. 


i wasn’t allowed to bear weight on that foot for a month as i healed. exactly two weeks after i was finally allowed to start walking again, i misstepped and knew as soon as my foot hit the ground that i had torn the labrum again. it took two expensive MRIs and an even more expensive and traumatic arthrogram (which involves placing a very long needle directly in the hip joint) to confirm that the labrum was torn again, and i had developed ischiofemoral impingement (IFI), a rare syndrome where the sciatic nerve and quadratus femoris muscle are pinched between the head of the femur and the pelvis. 

(hEDS sucks, by the way.) 

my pain levels have consistently been so high as to affect my quality of life (as in, my pain meds don’t manage it, i can’t get out of bed, i forget words i’m hurting so badly, and i can’t walk. it is some of the worst pain i have ever experienced and i say that as someone who has had my jaw dislocated for four months straight). 

my surgeon and i have decided to move forward with a second surgery called a hip labral reconstruction. this is a relatively new procedure that uses an allograft—a soft tissue graft from a donor cadaver—to replace where my own labral tissues are too damaged to repair. this surgery is currently scheduled for next friday, june 4, 2021. i need to pay a large chunk of these fees BEFORE i can have surgery next week.

i will be in recovery (read: unable to work) for a minimum of four weeks; i will be unable to bear any weight on my left leg at all for a minimum of six weeks. derek, my husband, will be working full-time to support us. 



i’m fortunate to already have a wheelchair, but there are a number of expenses i need help with.

i am currently raising funds to cover the following known expenses: 

known medical fees:
* orthopedic surgeon’s fee $1,501.75 
* CPM (continuous passive motion) machine for at-home PT $239.00
* hospital fee $3,939.00
* hEDS-familiar PT $4,300.00
($275 for initial post-op evaluation, $175 for each subsequent session, 1 session a week for six months)

total $9,979.75

(the surgeon's fee, the CPM machine, and at least a deposit on hospital fee must be paid before surgery)

unknown medical fees:
* anesthesiologist fees: i will not receive the fee for the anesthesiologist until at least 30 days post-op but i expect it to be around $2,000. i don’t know how much insurance will cover. 
* pelvic PT: i will not know how much of the pelvic PT my insurance will cover until after they are billed, i expect it will be around $3,000. 

total: ~$5,000.00

extraneous fees:
* dog gate/bed tent for dogs $150
* wheelchair ramps for front and back doors $300 (~$150.00 x 2)
* heart rate monitor $89.00 
* groceries/ordering in occasionally for the first five weeks ~$400.00

total: ~$1,039.00

grand total: $16,018.75

derek and i are insured through cigna, but he just started at his new job after five weeks of not being employed after being unexpectedly let him go. as a result, we have put basically no money towards our deductible or our out-of-pocket maximum and are still playing catch-up from bills in between jobs. we hit our max late last year with the first hip surgery, then when everything started over at the beginning of the year, we put several thousands towards insurance that no longer covers us when i had necessary eye surgery in february. 

i know it’s been a rough year for everyone, and i hate that the combination of our medical industrial complex plus the exhaustive needs of my chronically ill body means i have to repeatedly ask for help, but i am extremely grateful for anything anyone donates that can be put towards my medical bills. if you can’t donate right now (and trust me when i say i get it!), helping to share and put the word out is also super helpful. if you don’t want to donate through GFM, you can also send funds via paypal  (paypal.me/aceratcliff) or venmo  (@mortuaryreport). if you donate and want a picture of one of my very cute pets in exchange, hit me up on twitter or instagram  and we can definitely work something out!)

thank you all, very much, from the bottom of my heart. stay weird, be kind, and here’s to (hopefully) no more surgeries in 2021!