Melanies Mission To Live 2025

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!

Whit 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 begins after the summer, with my placement beginning in October 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 still have instability at T4 in my spine and I’ve tried recent nerve ablations to prove this is the problem area and see if we could stave off surgery… however, it’s rapidly deteriorating!

The other night I woke up with a completely paralysed right arm and hand… my heart was going crazy rhythms and I was pouring of sweat and I’m agony.. until T4 popped back in with a huge clunk, and all the feeling returned - such a relief!

I’m right handed and I’m having problems driving my powerchair when it pops out and I have to keep asking people to push on my back and help me pop it back into place, so I can continue!

Obviously it’s a huge problem and needs sorted ASAP as it’s pulling on my fusion and affecting my neck, jaw and my shoulder blade!

The last thing we need is it damaging my neck fusion and undoing all the lifesaving work that has been done.

So, Dr Gilete had been looking at surgical options incase it did become necessary in the future, but after my recent and rapid decline we have had to book me in for urgent surgery in mid September!

So I’m booked in for surgery in 8 weeks time and I need to find the funds to pay for it! I’ll have to fly the week before for pre op tests and so I’ll be flying just after my birthday & having surgery the following week IF WE RAISE THE FUNDS.

It’s a much smaller surgery this time as it’s T4 and not my skull or neck, and it’s going to be to add more hardware from the back and more bone to reinforce the level that’s unstable. So no ICU stay and hopefully just a few days in hospital, and a month in Spain.

We’re looking to raise £25K to cover this, which is much less than my previous surgeries … but still money I simply don’t have!

I’ll be honest I’m really stressed about it all as I’m dislocating 30+ times a day and it’s getting worse so fast, and I’m due to start my teacher training after the summer…. If I can raise the funds and have my surgery when planned I will be home and recovered ready for placement starting in October- so it won’t affect my training!

If I don’t raise the funds and can’t have the surgery it’s going to ruin everything for my teacher training and probably irreversibly damage my right shoulder, back and neck.

So it’s super important.

I’ve been doing so well and have worked so hard to get on my feet again and doing 3full days each week at school, that Im devastated at the thought of it all going down the drain!

So I’m hoping you will all help me again to raise the funds & that together we can do this in time!

Thanks again for always supporting me… 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