11 surgeries that have ruined my health! Help me to start living without pain…

Young face, old soul – this is how one can describe my life since. I can remember. Waking up in the morning is always accompanied by pain. The simplest everyday activities are huge obstacles. My life feels like hell with countless sleepless nights, tears and helplessness.

After 20 years of continuous failed treatment in Poland, I have undergone 11 surgeries that didn’t bring any positive results. The last 2 of them made my condition even worse. I am desperate, as there is no chance for improving my condition in Poland. My last ( and very expensive ) hope is a complicated surgery in the USA. Please, help me to live without pain!

My name is Agnieszka. When one looks at my photos, they would not believe that I have been struggling to live with my condition since I was a child. I try to live with a smile on my face, but feel too tired at times. I have difficulties to get up from my bed, make a step to walk. Chronic pain is my everyday company. I use painkillers as my only help, but it is not a solution in a long run.

I am 28 years old and have been living with my condition for about 20 years. It’s called fibrous dysplasia. In addition, I have a benign cancer in my left leg. Dysplasia is a rare skeletal disease  in which the process of bone synthesis is disrupted by abnormally acting proteins. My bones, are deformed and break easily.

My life has been a constant stream of hospital visits and new diagnoses, all of them affecting myself and my family. I have undergone 11 surgeries. Prior to procedures, I had been fall of hope and faith to get better. Unfortunately, is wasn’t…

My health got worse. A piece of my pelvis and acetabulum had been removed. The endoprosthesis had not been fixed properly. The procedure that is supposed to be used in the final stages of bone cancer had been carried out at the beginning instead…

I have become scarred for life with what I had gone through, I am aware now that there is no hope for me in Poland. The doctors cannot help me and I am sentenced to live in suffering.

I didn’t stop searching and finally found dr Feldman who accepted me as his potential patient  in Paley Institute, West Palm Beach in Florida. This surgery is my greatest chance to live without pain and start walking without difficulties – something I had dreamed about all my life. Dr Feldman is going to carry out a reconstruction of my hip joint, surgery of the lower leg and make my leg 3cm longer. Unfortunately, these procedures are very expensive. So far, I have tried to fund all the medical costs myself. It wasn’t easy, but I never asked for help. Now my situation is different, as I cannot afford to pay the costs that are extremely high.

My disease had always ruined all the plans and dreams. As a little girl, I could not become independent and go everywhere I wanted and crutches became my closest companion. I was embarrassed, but it made me stronger, so now, even being so afraid of the surgery ahead me, I am standing tall to ask you for support. Only You can give me another chance to live without pain. Please, don’t let me lose my hope.

-Agnieszka