Hi everyone, my name is Mason and it has come to a point where I have to reach out and ask for help.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. First thing, I was born with severe bilateral clubfoot. This is a congenital birth defect that affects the anatomy of the lower legs. They began serial casting at 2 days old, and my first set of surgeries was at 2 months old. Things continued this way as I grew up. The surgeries slowed down, but the pain never did.

Eventually, I actually became a paramedic and worked in that field for 13 years, until my legs and back took a turn for the worse and I was no longer able to continue working as a paramedic.

Shortly after that, and within a 5-year window, I had two spinal fusions and had both legs amputated below the knee.

Over the next 8 years, I got involved in the amputee community as well as adaptive sports. Most recently, I was working with new amputees, helping them transition to their new life as both a mentor and friend who has been through it.

That brings me to December 2024. My back had been getting worse over the course of a couple of years, and it was at that point my back gave out and I have been unable to work since. We have been fighting insurance every step of the way, which has caused delay after delay. Eventually, after four months, I was able to have an L3-L4 spinal fusion and a revision of my previous fusions.

The surgery went great and I was healing well. A couple of days after my 10-week follow-up appointment, I had a blinding pain in my lower back that left me breathless and wanting to vomit. It felt like the worst muscle strain I had ever felt. I just thought I had moved too much or too fast. Come to find out at my next appointment, the fusion did not take and the screws had begun to back themselves out.

I now need to have the fusion redone and we are once again waiting on the insurance to give us the go-ahead.

I was expecting to be back to work after 6 months, but unfortunately that didn't happen. I have been getting LTD; however, my COBRA takes half of my disability check and we are left scrambling as medical bills continue to pile up, on top of all our other responsibilities.

PS. As of now, I am on the schedule to have my fusion fixed on Sept 9th.