Help Charlotte Walk Again

My name is Cressida Fforde and I would like to share my friend Charlotte’s story with you.

This GoFundMe page is dedicated to fundraising essential limb reconstructive surgery for Charlotte.

It has been a long and difficult road over the last 16 years for Charlotte and her parents, Judy and Russell, who live in a small country town in NSW.

At 10 years old, Charlotte began to have pain in her legs and was misdiagnosed by Children's Hospitals with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. By 13, her pain had worsened, and she could no longer physically attend school. By 14, she began having repeated stress fractures in her legs but still had no correct diagnosis. The crippling pain and continual injuries in her legs increased causing her mobility and quality of life to diminish. Despite this, Charlotte was able to complete high school through Distance Education and achieved the marks to be accepted into medical school. However, the injuries, severe pain and immobility caused by her legs prevented this from occurring. Instead, Charlotte is studying a degree in science online with the hope that she would be able to go on and study medicine if she can receive the necessary treatment for her legs. During university placements for her previous two diplomas, she has at times resorted to crawling up and down flights of stairs due to the lift being out of order. This is just one example of the resilience and dedication Charlotte has shown, despite the very painful and significantly physical challenges she has faced since she was a young child.

As her condition continued to deteriorate, Charlotte and her family spent many years trying to get answers in Australia. Eventually, with all hope diminishing, she travelled to the United States in October 2024 for an appointment and specialised scans. Finally, she received the answers she had waited 16 long, painful and traumatic years for. Charlotte was diagnosed with a condition called Tetra Torsional Malalignment Syndrome.

Tetra Torsional Malalignment Syndrome is a rotational deformity in Charlotte’s legs where her femurs (thigh bones) are excessively rotated inwards and her tibias (shin bones) are excessively rotated outwards. This causes debilitating pain, recurrent injuries and progressive deformities and joint degeneration in her hips, knees and feet. The only treatment for this condition is major limb reconstructive surgery which involves simultaneously rotating her femur outwards and rotating her tibia inwards to realign her legs. The expertise and experience of the specialists in the United States with treating Tetra Torsional Malalignment Syndrome provides Charlotte with the chance to walk again. Charlotte has been advised without reconstructive treatment, her pain will continue to increase alongside the continuum of injuries to her lower limbs and staying confined to a wheelchair in severe pain for her lifetime is inevitable. Reconstructive treatment would be life changing.

Charlotte requires four surgeries over a period of 3 years to enable her to be pain free and walk again. She needs to have an initial surgery on her left leg followed by an initial surgery on her right leg and then hardware removal surgeries at a later date. Due to the rapid decline in Charlotte’s condition, she has been told by the doctors in the United States that her whole left leg needs to be surgically reconstructed within the next 6-12 months. They are able to address all of Charlotte’s deformities and reconstruct her entire left leg in one surgery which is unavailable in Australia.

Charlotte’s parents have no way of helping her access the surgeries she needs and are under significant financial hardship. They have spent everything they had since Charlotte was 10 years old, trying to get answers and help in Australia. Her parents have also struggled personally, having to watch Charlotte be in so much pain. They feel helpless and we all share a longing for things to change. I ask you to please try to put yourself in Charlotte’s position and imagine if this was you, trapped in a tremendous amount of pain and now knowing that there is help and hope out there, but you just can’t reach it. It is gut wrenching.

Given the urgency for Charlotte's left leg to be reconstructed, we are currently trying to raise $60 000 towards her first surgery.

The total amount for this surgery is $300 000. In addition, there will be expenses for airfares and accommodation.

We sincerely ask that you please donate towards Charlotte’s limb reconstructive journey and share her story to help enable her to access these life changing surgeries. Any donations would be truly appreciated.

Your contribution will go directly towards Charlotte’s medical treatment costs - hospital cost (operating room, implants, anaesthetist, hospital room, nursing, medical imaging, pathology), surgeon’s fees and post-surgery rehabilitation.

We will be providing updates throughout Charlotte’s surgeries once her limb reconstructive journey begins.

Charlotte is trying to fight for that little 10 year old girl who no one would listen to. For Charlotte, freedom is to walk. She desperately hopes to receive the help she needs with her legs so she can have the chance to make her goals a reality. Charlotte hopes to be able to study medicine and help people, ensuring their voices are heard, so that no other little girl or boy will be misdiagnosed and suffer in silence like she did. There are no words to describe how grateful Charlotte would be to be pain free and able to walk.

Thank you for taking the time to read her story.

- Cressida Fforde, on behalf of Charlotte, Judy and Russell Buckley.