Help Maizie walk again.

Hi my name is Jodie and Iam Maizie mum who I'm fundraising for. Here's a bit about Maizies story.....

I am raising money for an operation to help my daughter Maizie walk again. Maizie is 13 years old and full of life, has a wicked sense of humour, shes an insperation to everyone who meets her, so loving and kind. - as the years have passed, she's slowly had to stop doing a lot of the things she loves because of the decline in mobility of her right leg.  

At 8 months old, Maizie suffered 45% burns and as a result has had numerous skin grafts over the years. Since October 2023 she has been wheelchair bound, and as at May 2025, Maizie is awaiting a surgery date to have her right leg amputated at Stanmore - this is due to the bone being twisted and dislocated where the grafted skin doesn't have the elasticity to account for her bone growth.

Unfortunately Maizie is not a candidate for a Prosthetic leg, due to lack of muscle/bone structure to be able to carry and use it, so I have roughly 3 years to raise £150,000.00 for a surgery called Osseointergration. This is where a metal rod will be implanted into her bone and and a metal leg can be clipped onto it. This will be a better option for Maizie to walk due to it using less of her body's energy, and she would have more physical control over it. 

During the last 12 years since her accident, Maizie has had to endure a lot, including 56 operations some lasting 19 hours! Despite everything, she takes things as they come and never moans or complains about her situation.

Maizie loves the outdoors, playing sports, getting dirty and helping her Dad in the diggers - this operation will give her the opportunity to get back to doing those things, as she did before, and our family would love to see that happen.

I am kicking off the fundraising by doing a Sky Dive in May 2025!! Why? It has always been on my bucket list, (although i am petrified!) and i decided it would be a good way to start raising funds to help Maizie walk again. I'm turning 40 this month and I thought, if not now then when?!

Thank you for anything you can give, you will forever have our gratitude.

Please note any fundraising expenses will be covered separately and not deducted from this GoFundMe page.

If you would like to read on, below is some more information on Maizie's story...

Maizie was a very poorly baby following her accident in 2013, and spent three-and-a-half months on the Burns Intensive Care Unit at Broomfield Hospital. She was then moved to GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital) for a month continuing on full life support after contracting E. coli and Sepsis, which resulted in multiple organ failure. Maizie showed us she was a fighter then, as she has continued to be, and started to pull through and get better - we managed to get her home days before her first birthday.

Since then Maizie has been through multiple operations because her skin can't stretch and grow like ours due to the skin grafts, so while her bones continue to grow as a child's should, her skin doesn't. As childrens bones are soft, her skin has been able to stop her bones from growing how they should, so they’ve moved into spaces they can find. In October 2023 Maizie became fully wheelchair bound as the bone in her right leg is being twisted and dislocated - the skin is tighter and thicker on this leg, due to the skin graft failing during her time in GOSH because of the infections, and when she returned to Broomfield, they had to use skin from her head to re-graft. Skin from the head is thicker and has less elasticity, resulting in the skin on her right leg being extremely tight.

 

Over the last 5 years Maizie has seen consultants and Orthopaedic specialists from many hospitals across the country - Guys and St Thomas, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Broomfield and Stanmore - due to her bones getting worse, and the more she grows the worse it's getting. There have been many ideas of how to help her, but unfortunately the only conclusion is to amputate her right leg. From about the age of 5 Maizie has asked for her right leg to be amputated but understandably everyone has wanted to prevent that happening, but sadly it has now come to the point that it's the only option.

Due to various complications and allergies its not been an easy decision to reach, as unfortunately Maizie isn’t suitable for a Prosthetic leg due to lack of muscle/bone structure to be able to carry/use it. The socket will cause blisters and due to her skin being scar tissue from the grafts it doesn't heal, so will continue to wear away, which will in turn lead to infection. Additionally, having a prosthetic leg uses up around 60% of the bodies energy, even while resting - Maizie's body already works harder to constantly be in state of healing herself, and her heart works harder to pump her blood round her body due to the scarring.

Osseointergration surgery is commonly used for veterans in America, and only a few occur in the UK. This will be a much better way for Maizie to be able to walk due to it using less of her body's energy and she would have more physical control over it. Unfortunately this operation isn’t funded by the NHS as there isn’t enough studies on the success rate in the UK and it does have a higher then normal chance of infection.

Her amputation and rehab will be covered by NHS, and I have roughly 3 years to raise £150,000.00 because the integration can only be done on adult bones, as childrens bones are too soft to hold it.

 

At May 2025, we are currently awaiting a date from Stanmore for the amputation of Maizie's right leg.

Thank you for reading her story.