Sue Taylor-Franklin Knee Replacement Surgery

My name is Sam and I'm the wife of Sue Taylor-Franklin, and I am arranging this fundrasing on her behalf to hopefully cover the cost of knee replacement surgery

Not only is Sue my wife, but she is also Mum to Ollie Taylor Franklin aged 12 and our little puppy Chonk Taylor.

In 1985 Sue suffered a knee injury while riding a motorcycle. At the time Sue was advised the damage was not significant, would heal and needed no medical intervention. For decades Sue has suffered significant discomfort in her knee, and has simply got on with it and suffered in silence.

In 2018/19 we both up took up powerlifting and Strongwoman, In her first year of powerlifting, Sue broke the British Deadlifting record and Numerous Welsh Powerlifting records. in 2019 Sue entered her first Strongwoman competition where she came third......in 2020 she became one of few women in Britain to lift a 500lb deadlift, later that year breaking the Welsh and British records, in both her age category and open weight category.

In 2020 after becoming the 2nd strongest woman in Britain Sue qualified for Worlds Strongest Woman but due to Covid and Lockdown the competition was cancelled and her entry rolled over to 2021, In November 2021 Sue travelled to Daytona beach to compete in Worlds Strongest Woman alongside me her wife, making history as the first married couple to compete for head to head in a worlds strongest competition. Sue came 6th out of 20 competitors some 10+ years her junior as well as earning herself a spot in the Guinness World Records for pulling an Aeroplane the same year.

The lifting of weights gave Sue some relief from the pain she experienced in her knee, and she has been advised by medical professionals that lifting weights has prolonged the life of the knee, had she not taken up weightlifting she would have seen a much more rapid deterioration of the joint long before now.

However, in 2022 the pain increased and the shape of Sues's knee deteriorated significantly. She began training less and less, afraid that the added pressure she was putting on her knee could cause further damage. She sought medical advice and was referred for a private MRI scan by her sports therapist. Which she funded herself.

The prognosis was not good, and despite Sues's positive outlook, it was a huge mental setback.

Today the deterioration is even more significant, She has been fitted with a weight bearing brace which she has to wear all day, and is extremely uncomfortable. She is no longer weight training, She has had to have special adaptions made for her to continue to work, she cannot do everyday tasks such as standing to cook a meal, walk her new puppy or enjoy family days out, She has a blue badge which allows us to park more conveniently, but bizarrely was refused the non-means-tested benefit PIP (Personal Independence Payments)

Sue still has a place in the sport of Strongwoman, she is a fierce supporter of women in the sport as well as an advocate for mental health and LGBTQI+ rights, But I know her quality of life is suffering, I know no matter how resilient she is or appears this is effecting her mental health significantly. She is putting on a brave face for me and everyone, yet she doesn't know I hear her at night sitting on the bed sobbing in pain. The fact she cannot train or compete in her sport has become the least of her issues, her issue now is she is finding normal everyday things, things we take for granted difficult and almost impossible - she will not go up the stairs of our house or have a shower if I am not in the house in case she falls and cannot get back up it is debilitating and degrading.

She is on a dangerous concoction of controlled drugs, drugs that I can't collect for her from the pharmacy as she has to show two forms of ID and sign for them, Drugs that are highly addictive and dangerous long term, yet she has been prescribed these, is having the dosage increased almost weekly...with absolutely no end in sight. Having worked with People addicted to substances for years, what she is taking, the addictive properties of what she is taking and the long-term side effects are just as worrying as anything else that she has going on.

We have been advised that knee replacement surgery is now the only option yet on the NHS in the UK is a waiting time of 4-5 years minimum, and Sue one week away from being 55 isn't even on that list yet.

It has been suggested by friends and even Sues's own GP that her best option to have any quality of life before she is 60 is to pay for the surgery privately.

So we have researched this option. We have looked at the option of paying privately in the Uk which is where the target of £15,000 has come from. We have also looked at the option of going abroad, the cost of surgery abroad is significantly cheaper however we have to factor in the cost of travel, accommodation for recuperation before being able to travel home, childcare and any unpaid leave I may have to take from work. Surgery in the UK is the preferred option for obvious reasons, yet at this stage, Sue is prepared to look at all options

The funds will be used to pay for the surgery, and recuperation costs incurred if we travel abroad, likewise, if we chose this option any unpaid leave I may need to take, and any money we raise above the total needed will be split and donated to both our respective charities, Sue Mind RCT, where she works as a mental health resilience worker and my The Wallich a leading Homelessness charity.

We appreciate times are tough, we are in the middle of one the worst cost of living crises have seen for decades and we know things are tight for everyone. We never ever ask for money for ourselves, in fact, we have categorically stated we will never ask for money for competitions or the like if we can't afford our sport we do not do it, and we even struggled with this, yet so many people have told us to go down this road, we feel people want to help in some way however small that is, so we should give them that opportunity - we appreciate absolutely everything, every penny, or even you just reading this