Hope Gordon, a 21-year-old swimmer and rower from Scotland, has a strange wish.
A childhood injury has caused Hope to suffer severe pain in her left leg—so bad that she can’t walk on it, or even touch it without excruciating pain.
When she was 12, she was playing at school when one kick set off her neurological condition. It’s called complex regional pain syndrome, and it’s extremely rare. What’s worse is that while most people recover after two years, an even smaller amount never recover. Hope is one of them.
She takes up to 30 pills every day to control the pain. She describes it as a “burning, stabbing” pain.
Now, she’s 21, and she just wants to be rid of her leg. But the NHS won’t let her.
She first had the idea to amputate six years ago, after which it took another two years for her to ask the NHS to remove the leg. However, the health board said it was against the guidelines for her treatment.
They said that because it was a neurological condition, it was possible that removing the leg would not get rid of the pain.
However, she says that even if it does still leave her in pain, the leg is useless anyway.
And eventually, she found a surgeon who believed that, too.
But the NHS still wouldn’t pay for it. So she had a fundraising campaign, and raised money for her surgery.
Her biggest donation was over $2,000, from an American.
Hope says, “The whole thing has been gobsmacking, just nuts. I definitely was not sure I would manage to raise this amount of money with only 30 days to do it.”
She’s scheduling a surgery as soon as possible, and will have the leg amputated at the knee. She’ll also be fitted for a prosthetic limb, though she may not wear it, depending on if it triggers more pain.
“People have been so kind and I just don’t want to keep them waiting. I don’t want to have to wait for longer either. My leg just gets in the way and I want it gone as soon as possible.”
