Hello my name is Emily Green and I am fundraising for my Best Friend Rachael Armstrong.

Rachaels journey started on the 20th february 2016 where she had a very serious horse riding accident. The horse was uncontrollably galloping, rearing and bucking. Rachael tried to hold on for as long as possible but was catapulted through the air landing head first and the rest of her body landed afterwards. The Soldier that is Rachael, decided to get up and go home without first seeking medical help. Around a week later after battling through agony leaving her nearly bedridden she sought medical help and was referred to the spinal unit at QMC Nottingham for further assessment. Following an MRI scan and tests the doctors diagnosed Rachael with spinal stenosis at S1, L4 and L5. A narrowing of the spine canal causing narrowing of the spinal cord and nerve roots extending from spine to legs. It is a degenerative disease. the discs between the vertibrae were also damaged. Rachael was told this diagnosis might be manageable with lifelong pain medication, what she wasn't told is her body would soon need stronger painkillers due to taking them over a long period of time. The condition has got progressively worse. This affects Rachaels life in such a way that she cannot do something simple like walk to the bathroom without help. This has had a detrimental impact on both physical and mental health. before all of this Rachael used to regularly wakeboard, surf, ski, run, snowboard. Now she cannot shower without help. If that all did'nt sound too bad, in july 2019 I had a phone call from Rachael crying her eyes out on the way to hospital, she had finally given in to the pain and gone to A and E. She was in good spirits on the ward afer being admitted as initialy they were just running tests to see why the pain was so excrutiating. 4 days later in the early hours of Monday morning Rachaels partner got a phone call from the hospital to advise she had stopped breathing twice and was given CPR to bring her back. They realised Rachael had a large blood clot on her right lung caused by stress and leg damage. She was put into and induced coma , placed into intensive care and then moved to critical care at another hospital after getting worse. We were told her chances of survival were slim and we would all need to pray to get her through it. Thankfully after long days sat by her side the doctors tried to wake Rachael up. She became very responsive but unfortunately was in a lot of pain. After her pain subsided due to being heavily medicated the doctors referred her back to the spine unit at QMC. The prognosis for Rachael to get her life back is a very intensive surgery. The nhs can only offer at this time surgery to cut away small parts of the spine to allow nerves to be hopefully released. This will not change Rachaels outlook in regards to loss of the use of her right leg, as the nerves have been trapped and dead for too long this operation is only for pain relief. It will not change her quality of life for the better. Rachael did discuss having the vertibrae removed with the consultants however they advised they would not be willing to perform such an extensive surgery for at least another 15 years when the condition becomes far worse.. It could not get any worse being nearly bedridden at 48 with 3 children with one being 7 years old. It just cannot be right! Rachael is a high achiever and has academic qualifications specifically in law and business studies. She is currently studying through the pain to become a charte surveyor via RICS. The surgery that we are hoping to raise the amount above for is called the TOPS system operation. It is a mechanical implant device that replaces the bony and soft tissues that are removed during spinal decompression surgery, it has been clinically proven to provide pain relief and improvement in quality of life for patients living with spinal stenosis and other diseases of the facet joint, without this surgery Rachael faces a reality of being bedridden in overwhelming amounts of pain and not being able to do simple things like walk her daughter to the park or take a shower without assistance. It is an unfair reality so I am hoping we can raise the above amount to make her life better! The surgery and associated costs are approximately £20,000, post surgery costs for medication hospital accomodation and nursing staff are approximately a further £3-5,000

Rachael has good and bad days but now mostly bad. She is like a 48 year old trapped in a 95 year olds body. We can no longer stand to see her in so much agony and pain. Please can you help by donating however small and share this page , lets make it too hot to handle, its a small price to pay to give a mum and a wife her life back!

Thank you all in advance

Emily x