Caroline's Dream is to walk again. Can you help?

If you are reading this you are my last hope.

Hi, I'm Caroline and I became an above-knee amputee in 2018. Due to a number of complications and multiple attempts at different types of prosthetic legs, I've now no other option available here in Ireland for me to be able to walk ever again.

My last hope at being able to live my life to the fullest and get walking again is through a specialised surgical procedure called osseointegration. In this procedure a metal rod is inserted into my leg bone protruding out through the skin and a prosthetic leg is then attached directly to the metal rod.

This would mean that I would not have to use any of the suspension systems that have failed for me and mean that I would be able to walk again using a prosthetic leg.

Unfortunately, there aren't any surgeons doing this type of operation in Ireland.

Between flights, accommodation, prosthetic leg, aftercare, the surgery itself and rehabilitation it's going to cost me around €120,000. Since the procedure is outside of Ireland no financial support is available to me.

One morning in 2002 I woke up and couldn't lift my leg out of the bed, I was in horrific pain and went to the doctors and got a scan and they told me that due to arthritis I had the bones of an 80-year-old, and I was only 37.

Over the course of the next 15 years, I had multiple knee replacements and other procedures and sadly contracted a potentially deadly infection which after multiple attempts to eradicate it, resulted in me being advised to have my left leg amputated.

The hope then was that the battle was over and I would be able to start living my life with beautiful walks in the park using a prosthetic leg and just do simple things like grocery shopping or walking the dog, that I'd finally be able to have some independence again. Due to complications with my limb after amputation, it was not meant to be, and after years and years of different types of prosthetic legs and procedures to adjust the limb in hopes of getting a prosthetic to fit me, I was again left at a loss and again with only a dream of finally being able to walk.

While daily life can be frustrating I am not giving up this battle and will continue to fight to be able to get my mobility back, I will fight every day to be able to get on that plane to have the surgery that will change my life and then walk onto the plane back to Ireland independently and with a new lease of life.

I would be sincerely grateful and indebted to anyone that could help me by contributing a donation to my GoFundMe or who could help by organising a fund-raising event.

It is my dream that one day I’ll be able to walk again.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story.

#CarolinesDream