Help Martha fund a life changing surgery

Hi, I’m Martha and we are fundraising for a surgery called a cystectomy with ileal conduit. This means that my bladder will be removed, and a new channel will be formed using part of my intestines to create something called a stoma.

Martha’s story

In 2019, I became paralysed at the age of 15. This meant that my bladder stopped working, and I therefore had to be catheterised. I currently have a suprapubic catheter, which is a catheter that is placed surgically through a hole in my lower abdomen area that goes straight into my bladder. Unfortunately, I cannot carry on with for too much longer. I suffer with extreme bladder spasms and have tried many treatments, with no success. My surgical catheter ballons burst constantly (bursts cannot be fixed). This means that the catheter must be changed, which is a procedure done awake. This is a huge problem as the balloon being inflated (inside the bladder) is what keeps the catheter in, the moment the balloon has burst/deflated, it can completely come out as there is nothing holding it in, which, in turn, means the SPC hole begins to close, often in less than 10 minutes. This means that there is not even time to get to hospital for a nurse to replace the catheter if it has come out. If the site does then close, I have to wait for a surgery all over again and go through another traumatic operation. I cannot be catheterised urethrally for many reasons, and therefore I would end up in a very dangerous situation. Due to my chronic pain condition and bladder spasms, having my catheter changed is a horrific procedure that’s incredibly traumatic which is happening every week pretty much, sometimes even every 2-3 days, which is destroying my bladder more and more each time, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do to stop the balloons bursting, other than having this urostomy surgery.

Since becoming paralysed, I’ve spent the last 5 years trying to build a life for myself, find enjoyment in new activities, and learn to live again. Unfortunately, my SPC (Suprapubic catheter) is now causing constant horrific pain, debilitating bladder spasms, balloons bursting and therefore going through the hellish traumatic tube changes very often, constant infections, constant blockages, which result in flushing acid into my bladder to break the blockage down, and doing this multiple times a day is an excruciatingly painful thing to do.

All the things I love to do are now being affected by my SPC negatively. I play wheelchair tennis, however it’s massively impacting my ability to do that, which is really heartbreaking as I was finally able to fall back in love with sport which is something I used to love. By having this urostomy surgery, despite the very rough recovery, it will give me chance to continue playing tennis, to continue driving, swimming, working, to be able to reduce some of the horrific pain I am in, and all round living my life again.

Unfortunately the wait lists on the nhs for this surgery are 4 years +, (often 5-7years) which is a wait I cannot manage, so I have had to look at going privately. Due to the fact this surgery is a huge operation, the cost of it is also huge, and therefore we are doing this fundraiser to help raise some money to go towards this surgery, so I can get my life back and take away some of the extreme pain I deal with every day.

Thank you so much for reading and any donation no matter how small is greatly appreciated, along with sharing this too.

Martha’s Dad-

It's very sad to witness every day watching our daughter struggle through life with constant bladder spasms, and bladder infections occurring unannounced resulting in constant sudden hospital trips. Our family just want Martha to be able to enjoy her life again.

Martha”s mum-

No words can describe how helpless you feel as a parent - seeing your child in pain everyday and knowing the surgery she needs is not deemed as priority by the NHS as she is not a cancer patient, so the only option we have is to go private or watch martha suffer for years. This in itself will be a challenge with the most likely hospital being based in Liverpool and will involve a minimum 10 day hospital stay. Along with pre and post op appointments. We will do all we can to get this surgery for Martha

Any donations/shares are greatly appreciated by us as a family. Those that have been on this journey with us for the last 6 years will understand what this means.