The breast is yet to come! Help Maggie's boobs!

I have known Maggie since we were young girls playing comp netball. We reconnected 6 years ago when we became co workers. It was then I heard the story that broke my heart. As a women I will never understand the physical pain, let alone the mental and emotional pain this awful surgery that Maggie endured but most of all the effects and the result of a dodgy surgeon. To go through your entire 20s and feel less of a women, feel embarrassed, insecure, ugly, and just not confident in your own skin is heartbreaking.

It has taken Maggie all her strength and bravery to share her story with the world, but it's time people understood Maggie and her pain on a deeper level. It has taken me 6 years to convince Maggie to not only share her story but allow me to create this page to get her some financial help. With all the government benefits and private health insurance it will barely scrape the surface for the kind of money Maggie needs. I can assure you Maggie has come up with every plan possible to not do this, but every single plan ends up with her being in debt for decades to come and will continue to put her on the back foot and not allow her to move forward in her life.

Please take the time to read her story and donate what you can to assist Maggie.

In 2015 I was 22 years old when I booked a consultation with a cosmetic surgeon to gain more self confidence within my own skin, I met with a Surgeon who took advantage of me and my innocence and I would soon find out he was unregistered and would change my life forever.

I was meant to get a breast lift and small implant which I was told it would be a straight forward procedure which many women including some of my friends had previously undergone. The procedure normally (when done correctly) would mean I would be under anestic for 3 hours, but when I came to it, it was actually 9 hours. During this time, I was in no position to understand whether this was right or wrong. The immediate aftermath, I was extremely ill, the effects were; vomiting, chronic pain in the chest, dramatic bruising and swelling, no feeling, minimal movement and plus an external infection on all areas on where I was cut open.

I had a follow up appointment weekly after the initial surgery due to the pain and the infection. He continued to tell me that it was normal but due to the inflection I was unable to have a bandage around my chest and therefore the cuts continued to open and get more infected as it was directly on my clothing. When I raised my concerns to him he responded with "this is normal" but insisted to give me an injection to help with the infections and swelling. The injection was into both my breast. At my six week appointment I mentioned that I more concerned as the shape of my breasts were unusual and not what I was expected nor what I had compared to friends. The shape they were looking were square.

It was then decided by my surgeon we would do a second surgery to reduce swelling and create and more round look. This was the most horrific surgery of my life. It was practically a metal cheese grater shoved in between my breasts and prodded back and forth for about hour. I was awake for this procedure.

This was unsuccessful, and was clear two week post op. The look of my breasts were square ice cubes, bottomed out, no cleavage, nerve damage, loss of feeling and the implant was sitting up high and my actual breast sat lower.

After realizing something clearly wasn't right, I tried to get in contact with my surgeon but had been told by the receptionist that he had left the practice and would not be back due to unfortunate circumstances, the unfortunate circumstances I found out later on that he fled the country. This definitely made me more determined to dig a little deeper, I eventually also found out that he was unregistered surgeon and was practicing illegally and all forms shown to me previously were fake. I went back and fourth with the company that he was practicing out of and was told it was time for me to seek legal representation.

By the end of 2015 I contacted a lawyer, and the health department and reported him. I went back and fourth with my lawyer and the health department where I given evidence on what had taken part and a time line of events, plus photos of the aftermath. We went to court multiple times, and each time it would be adjourned, after various amounts of court dates. My lawyers went on my behalf and then it was made clear that my surgeon had fled the country and they could not locate him and therefore nothing could be done. No justice for me, no compensation and no justice for the countless other women he had done this to, we were all left with scars (literally). He had not alone left me with deformed breast, chronic pain, self image issue but on top of everything else embarrassment and shame. He had left me to suffer in pain without anyone being able to give me direction on what I could do next. I was so angry! There were many times in the past six years where I was at my lowest, I was angry at world, constantly questioning why me, why did this have to happen to me. I have many friends around me that have had the same procedure and had little to no issues, the envy I feel towards them hurts, it saddens me that it happened to me and I wouldn't wish this upon my worse enemy. To wake up every day, to see myself naked in the shower, to get changed, to try on clothes at shops, to have to wear a t-shirt on hot summer days at the pool or beach, to be in pain that can only be managed by Panadol and to feel this way is just not the way I should have to live anymore.

In the middle of 2016 I decided I had enough of the pain, the anger taking over my life and the embarrassed I decided to reach out to multiple different surgeons to get opinions on what could be done, and each surgeon turned me away as they didn't want to be blame for someone else fuck up (to put it lightly) after every appointment I felt that they put it in the "too hard basket". It also didn't help that my lawyers advised me that I were to have surgery to repair the damage that was done it would jeopardies any compensation entitled to me. Five years later I have received no compensation, if anything I am $30,000 out of pocket once you add up the cost of the initial surgery, second surgery, legal cost etc. Let alone the damage to my mental and emotional health which I cannot put a cost on! For the past 5 years unfortunately no matter how hard my lawyers and myself fought there was nothing left they could do and no further help.

But now it is time, it is time to take back ownership of my body, feel like a woman again and comfortable in my own skin, which is ironic as this is why I wanted the surgery in the first place.

I have finally found a surgeon willing to take my rare and unique high risk case on, and help me feel a tad normal again. This will entail multiple surgeries, firstly to take the current implants out, then reconstruct the breasts and a possible lift all depending on the damage inside due to the excessive nerve damage within. The risks of these surgeries are extremely high and will leave me never being able to breast feed and will never look the same, but these risks are worth it considering the pain I am in each and every day. The costing of the entirety pending all things go accordingly will be $35,000 out of pocket with government benefits and private health as this is deemed medically necessary. I am hoping due to the severity my surgeon is hoping we can begin the road to recovery by the end of 2021.

Thank you for taking the time to hear my story, as difficult as awkward as I feel to ask for help, I know there is no other way I can get back to feel a sense of me again. Thank you and any help is appreciated.