Help Dana Get a Leg to Stand On

My story starts on 1/10/2010. A red light runner t-boned my car, crushing my left ankle, breaking my right and tearing my right meniscus. At the time, despite the severity of the injuries, I was pretty calm about it all. I thought, “OK. They will do surgery, put everything back as it was, right?” I didn’t know how wrong I was to be about that. I was in surgery for nine hours the first day and seven the next to prevent losing my legs.

Fast forward twelve plus years, I’ve had fourteen more surgeries. Four on my right knee ended in a knee replacement which worked great. My left ankle had other ideas. I have had eleven surgeries overall on that in an attempt to save my leg and one to eventually remove it. I’ve had plates implanted, screws driven into the bone, titanium cages and rods inserted into my femur, a failed ankle replacement and finally, a fusion – none of which worked. Plates and cages broke. Screws worked their way out. The rod slid down until it was protruding from the bottom of my heel. I had spoken with my surgeon regarding amputation over the years but was terrified I would be relegated to a wheelchair, so I continued with anything and everything to try to save it.

The pain became more excruciating with each attempt to rectify the problem. Eventually living with this pain cost me my job. I was fired because I could not fight through it and perform the way I was used to. I love to work and I had lost my ability to earn for myself - the ability to define who I am.

After my surgery in November of 2021 everything finally collapsed. At this point, I had not been out of a walking boot in over four years and now I couldn’t even use that. Now I couldn’t even walk, period. I had lost my independence! With a heavy heart, I finally decided I needed to give myself a chance to walk again and live my life even if it meant losing that which I had fought so long and hard to save. On May 18th I admitted defeat in this war. I had a below-the-knee amputation.

I am asking all my friends and family if they can help. Prosthetic limbs are extremely expensive. Each leg costs about $30,000 not including liners, doctor appointments, etc. A new amputee will need on an average 3-4 new legs in the first two years as their limb continues to change size and shape during this time, thus changing the fit. I am on disability, and, while Medicare will cover 80%, we will not be able to afford the 20% after being in debt from years of medical treatment. Please, if you could all donate and/or share this GoFundMe page with your friends and family, I will forever be in debt to you. Every dollar raised will go to keeping me in a leg, so I have the chance to finally live again!