Renee Shadley (Amputation support)
23 years ago my friend Renee Lott fell while roller Skating and broke her ankle. I met a wonderful woman that day, and spent day after day by her bed as she recovered from the surgery to put her shattered ankle back together. The break was so bad that her doctors weren't quite sure if she was going to walk on that leg again.
Today we are living a new reality!! Renee is now an amputee, and we are facing a whole new reality for life going forward, thats why we are asking for help I wish there was a good way to put this all on paper but feel free to visit Renees Facebook page for more updates and insite.
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Several things that most people don't understand about amputees and prosthetics.
1) You don't just amputate your leg, and then get a new one. There is a long process that includes healing, shrinking, casting, building, fitting, adjusting, and maintaining. The process of having and using a prosthetic is an ever changing ordeal, that poses challenges that can come and go on a daily basis, and will last for ever.
2) Most insurance companies will pay for a prosthetic or at least pay their portion, but there are a lot of limitations on what they will cover. Insurance companies do not feel that activities like running, hiking, or swimming are medically necessary, and unfortunately prosthetics are not designed to work in all situations. A basic foot / leg setup is good for walking around the house, more advanced feet would be better for a gravel driveway, and yet another option would be good for walking up up and down hills or side hills, and running is a whole new story, with legs that can cost up to 80 thousand dollars each. The point is that one size does not fit all, but the approach to prosthetics is to find one that is close enough, and deal with it.
3) This is not the end to all surgeries. Most amputees will go through one or more revision surgeries, and experience skin issues that will come and go, and can possibly be life threatening. Each revision surgery changes the size and shape of the remaining leg, and the whole process has to start all over.
If you are interested in the rest of the story please continue to read below and you will have a better idea of what has been going on in Renees life for the past 23 years, and why we are now tackling this new adventure.
It turns out that sitting by her bedside was something that became a rather regular event, eight surgeries on that one foot, each one buying a little more time until the next, and each one with the hopes of having an ankle replacement when she was older and the timing was more appropriate. Ankle surgeries, and a barrage of other health problems became the norm in the Shadley household, but not everything was bad, we were married June 29th 1997, and our first child was born in October of the following year. After our 3 child was born Renee had a surgery that unknowingly turned the tide on her ankle issues and really set the stage for what she is up against today. The doctors suggested that in order to help control the pain in her foot, she should have her ankle fused. Like every other procedure it bought her some time, but began to speed up the process of wearing out adjacent joints. Walking with a limp caused other knee and back problems that we dealt with as they arose and we began to realize that Renee might never be pain free.
Fast forward ten years, and our oldest child is 18! Thinking back we realized that none of our children has ever seen their mother run or play without pain! The pain in Renee's ankle is again effecting her every daily decision, still planning on having an ankle replacement she began seeing her orthopedic exploring options to reduce the pain, only this time there was no talk of an eventual fix and the suggestion was really to cope with the pain with narcotics, or have her foot amputated! What? For 23 years she had hope, and now the suggestion of having a limb removed was crushing. A second opinion confirmed that she was out of options, her previous surgeries have effectively eliminated any options of having a normal pain free life, and unfortunately also taken away any chance of a successful ankle replacement. From the doctors mouth, "if you were my wife I would cut it off in your sleep rather than let you go through another surgery on that ankle". So there we were looking into a future where my wife is forced to make the decision to have her lower leg amputated. This is not all bad however, with some work, she will physically be able do more with her life than any of our children have ever seen her do. Walking, riding bikes, exercising will all be options, with some additional resources, running, hiking, backpacking could all be normal. Recently Renee fell in love with the idea of being able to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and it's strange how things work but she may actually be able to do that soon! What we've learned through talking with other amputees is that for all the negative things that one might think about before an amputation, it is amazing how many positives can come out the other side.
Renee started a new chapter in her life October 25th 2016! Her amputation was text book, her health going in to the procedure was amazing, and the outlook for a speedy and full recovery is exceptional. Renee is a warrior, and by all accounts has surpassed all expectations for her recovery. It seems that she is on track to be walking on a new leg by mid December!
We would like to reach out to those of you who are interested in lending a hand and ask for your help. This is a huge undertaking, Renee will have a hard time physically, recovering, and relearning. It's likely that she will struggle for a time with depression. Our kids will have to put things on hold once again, and I will need to do my best to be back at her bedside. We will need to make a few more changes around the house for accessibility, but most importantly we would like to be able to give Renee the options with her prosthetics to begin to feel normal again. A prosthetic foot can cost between 15 and 20 thousand dollars. Luckily our insurance will cover most of Renees first prosthetic, unfortunately insurance doesn't think that things like running, and hiking , and swimming, are medically necessary. Our goal is to provide Renee with everything she will need to not just get her life back to normal, but to push it past normal to great! We would like to be able to generate enough money to provide her with a running leg, and enough physical therapy / personal training to rebuild her body after this final effort.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story and if you feel compelled it would be great if you could take a minute to share with your friends or family.
Donations can be made through Gofundme, or directly our address is 17017 Kingsburg rd, Bend Or 97707, feel free to contact us with any questions.