Hi, my name is Mel Hartshorn and my story has been shared all over the world since around 2017…

I have a complex medical history with several rare conditions which cause all of my joints to dislocate easily… and PAINFULLY!

I have spent many years bedbound and graduated with a biology degree on a stretcher!

With the help of many, many AMAZING PEOPLE like you, I raised the funds to have lifesaving neurosurgery in Barcelona to prevent seizures, respiratory arrests and enable me to sit up again…. and live life!

Then tragedy struck when after a routine knee operation in the UK I found my neck fusion broken and was forced to spend 2 desperate years with a surgical halo quite literally keeping my head screwed on!!

Luckily once again you guys- came through and donated in your masses to enable me to have experimental surgery which had never been done before in this manner, to fuse my first vertebra and T1, from the front of my body- whilst already being fully fused at the back from skull to pelvis!

It wasn’t easy and was a rough recovery but it was a huge success! And since then I’ve been seizure free, had no respiratory arrests, and have even been able to take a few steps on my own two feet… this was thought to be impossible by most people!

I have also been making huge progress towards my dream of becoming a primary school teacher!

Every spare chance I’ve been volunteering and have built my days up to 3 full days a week in years 2,3 and 4… and I LOVE IT!

I have also been accepted with flying colours (woohoo!) onto a PGCE course at Sunderland university which I’ve began studying via distance learning, with my placement to begin at the school I’ve volunteered at for years…. I’m SO EXCITED!

This has been my dream since I was a child and I’ve genuinely got my heart set on it…. I’m so close to achieving it but unfortunately I need YOUR HELP AGAIN.

I recently had surgery for instability at T4 in my spine and I tried recent nerve ablations to prove this was the problem area and see if we could stave off surgery… however, I rapidly deteriorated and had to rush back to Barcelona to have T4 fused with new hardware…. Hence the original target on this fundraiser of £25K.

However the week before surgery I rapidly deteriorated and when they did the surgery they discovered my ribs were dislocating at the spine in all directions on the right hand side.

It was so severe they were literally dislocating with every breath- my surgeon was shocked! He said he’s never seen this type of instability so severe.

We had to schedule an urgent CT and work with a thoracic surgeon on a plan. The thoracic surgeon identified 4 ribs that need fused to my spine.

They are dislocating each time I move or breathe and it’s agony. They said it’s so severe it’s usually only seen in car crash victims!

This is why I’m in such horrific pain, and this is why I’ve been forced to raise the total by about £60,000 (to a total of £85K for both operations) on this fundraiser to cover the cost of the new rib fusion surgery!

Unfortunately this surgery can only be done for me in Barcelona, as I already have a full spinal fusion and one of the spinal rods needs replaced to attach to the new rib fusion system…. This means my neurosurgeon Dr Gilete is needed during the surgery to do this neurosurgical part alongside the thoracic surgeon.

And… yet again time is critical…

The specialist thoracic surgeon stated, if we leave it too long, the instability will worsen and is likely to spread to more ribs, meaning if need more then 4 fused! Fusing more ribs means more restricted breathing and a less positive outcome for the surgery!

I’m desperate to get back ASAP before I deteriorate too much, I’m suffering so much at the moment and my body simply isn’t coping with the pain! My endocrinologist has said all my recent (life threatening) adrenal crisis will be from the severe pain I’m in- so we are having to double dose my steroids. Which has major side effects long term, so she’s hoping I have surgery soon so we can reduce my steroid dose and prevent the long term side effects.

If we don’t raise the funds fast I’m in big trouble!

Thanks again for always supporting me… My dream of walking and teaching was so close… I’m holding onto the hope that again, we can do this together!”

“No dark cloud can forever prevent the sun from shining!”

Mel x