Hip Arthroscopy

A bit about Heather:

On the cover photo, you can see the before picture on the left and my friend (Heather) ,now on the right. Only a couple years apart. Heather has always put herself out for other people, offering support, both financially and emotionally whenever she can. Always putting herself second or third. She is a huge family person, often looking after her young nieces and nephews and adores taking them on outings. Since her Nephew was born (who is now 1 year old) she hasn't been able to walk properly, if at all on occasions, making her unable to care for him or take him on adventures on her own. At 22 years old she is constantly relying on other people to take her places and help her. Unable to do things alone. Now it's time she needs help and unfortunately no one is able to. Her friends and family do not have much money and are desperately trying to scrape together the money she needs to be able to walk again.

A bit about her condition:

In year 7, Heather had agonising pain in her leg, although uncomfortable she carried on as normal, hoping it would go away. Months later she was referred to the hospital and scans revealed that her hip was not fusing properly. She needed to have a titanium pin drilled into her hip. This meant that Heather was wheelchair bound for a month and then reliant on crutches for months after that.

There was a debate between surgeons as to whether she should have the pin removed or not later on in life, after puberty, when the bone would have been fully formed.

The pin was not removed. Throughout her childhood she suffered with pain in her hip, predominately in the colder weathers. Meaning that she often couldn't fully participate in playing with her friends in the winter months.

The Present Day:

Heather has been unable to walk for over 13 months now. The hospital appointments are few and far between and very slow. Heather has since had a surgery to remove her pin, which did not help. She has received courses of physiotherapy and pain killing injections, which again have not helped. An MRI scan revealed that she has a tear in a cartilage in her hip. This requires a specialist operation to correct, with which only 10 surgeons in the UK are qualified to conduct (as informed by the consultant).

In order to receive this on the NHS, Heather has to be on a waiting list to receive more injections. Then if that does not work she has to undergo "extensive Physiotherapy", which again, previously has not worked. Above all Heather is expected to loose weight in order to have the operation on the NHS. I am not sure how the NHS think that this is possible, given that she cannot walk to exercise, although through dedication Heather has already lost over 1 stone in the past year. As you can see, when Heather was able to walk she was fit and healthy enjoying her life. A couple of months on since the consultation there has been no further contact. Thus Heather's mobility is going to be severely restricted for at least another year, if not more.

As much as I personally value the NHS, there lack of funding is creating extreme difficulty for Heather's cause.

If this was not bad enough at 22 years old, Heather lost her dream job in caring for the elderly, due to her condition.

Therefore if we can fund enough money, Heather can receive the surgery, without all the other processes, within the next couple of weeks, making her able to walk in time for Christmas.

Even to this day Heather thinks that there are others more worthy than her for funding, so I am asking on her behalf to please give her a chance to gain her life back and be able to return to normality.