Going Out on a Limb - Sugarluxe Secrets Revealed

Chandra Michaels is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

GOING OUT ON A LIMB

I'm letting go of that crushing pressure to make others comfortable. According to some who love me - my life might depend on it.

Years ago, I was struck by a hit and run driver. He left me to die in the street, taking part of my leg with him. Within inches of losing my life, a city bus driver stopped his bus, removed his tie, created a tourniquet and saved me from bleeding to death. The driver of the truck who struck me was never found.

People can know me for years and never even realize I lost my leg. I've created a lot of pretty things in my life to distract from some of my ugly truth.

But I can't hide it anymore. I've run out of time. I've done everything I can.

My prosthesis has been crumbling for years, cracking with each step, and causing me unbelievable pain.

So did I sit around and cry about it?

NO! I got busy sculpting a foot out of clay, casting it in resin, and making a mold in dental alginate.

I taught myself everything I could about silicone, designed it all and baked some of the best dang non-human tootsies I've ever seen.

And if anyone ever doubted my artistic ability before...behold these beautiful TOES!

Okay, I hope I didn't creep you out. Please just admire for the sake of the amazing realism.

I totally made these!

My daughter wanted to help! What else are you going to do with a leftover foot?

After my leg surgery in 2019 which also included multiple fat grafts (ouch!) to try to create some padding for my way too tiny, mangled (real) leg parts, the healing took awhile before I could be fitted properly. I went to my prosthetist mid-March 2020. My new leg had a test socket. I was excited. Then - a WORLD-WIDE PANDEMIC.

Two months later, with COVID-19 locking down everything, home-schooling my kindergarten twins, my husband of 17 years up and left in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, my sexy silicone toes fell apart. My whole life was falling apart.

The next year came around and didn't seem any better.

MY 2021 ACCOMPLISHMENTS INCLUDE:

✅ Virtual school with my kids

✅ Enduring a brutal, expensive divorce

✅ 1 Emergency super gigantic kidney stone surgery

✅ 5 Mammograms

✅ 3 Biopsies

✅ Boob surgery

✅ Major oral surgery complete with bone grafts

✅ Limping around on a broken leg

✅ Relaunching Sugarluxe (that's a happy one)
✅ Financially and physically drained

I'm not one to ever talk about any of this. I have never wanted pity, and besides the divorce that took me over a year to mention on social media, I've not once publicly discussed any of this other stuff.

Because I'm a fighter. I always get up ready to go another round.

Except...

Even the heavyweights sometimes find themselves down for the count.

And so here I am - not asking for a handout, but a literal leg up.

WHY FUNDRAISING?

To complete a well-fitting, appropriate leg prosthesis
Traveling to and from the out-of-town clinic to complete the fittings
A professional exterior leg design

Super engineered, robotic prosthetic legs can cost in the 50k+ range. I don't need something that fancy. I just want to regain my health and the wear and tear this has done to my body is beyond ignoring anymore.

My hope was - I could quickly relaunch my business, make enough money to get my new leg (in addition to starting my whole blown up life over) and never, EVER speak of any of this.

The actual truth is - it's really, really hard to restart with nothing. Especially after 8 years away. It's even harder with medical issues, as a single mom, raising young kids and having a stupid broken fake leg. I'm in a race against the clock and I'm not winning this race right now.

But I do believe that victory doesn't belong to the swift and strong; it's for those who just keep running.

I promise that if you help get me up and running again, you can be assured that it will positively impact my life and the life of my kids forever.