Born Broken- Living Victorious- Emma's Story

Hello friends and thank you so much for reading Emma's story.

Emma has been one of my closest friends now for almost ten years. She and I met when our husband's worked together and she quickly became an incredible light in my life and now I'm hoping I can bring some of that to her life now. She is a true believer in the power of Christ and her story of perseverance in the face of adversity is something I want more people to know about. Because she's an amazing human being in every possible way.

Some of you may know that in October I made a quick trip from my home in Washington to go visit a friend in Missouri. Emma was that friend and I was pretty vague about why I was visiting. I told almost everyone it was for a "wellness visit" after a friend had surgery, but it was so much more than that and now I am able to tell you the story.

Emma was born with club feet. She spent most of her life enduring tremendous pain and surgery after surgery. She was able to walk and to most people, she was a fully able bodied and beautiful human. But, she was in constant pain, oftentimes hiding it from those around her, even us, her closest friends. She never complained, she just kept going. She kept working, she kept walking, she kept dancing, she kept going even when I know she wanted to throw in the towel and give up.

About 7 or 8 years ago, I remember her talking to me about wanting to have her feet amputated for the first time. Things were so bad that she just wanted to be done with the pain and it holding her back. She knew if she could find a doctor who would really listen to her, then she could do this... she could lose her feet and learn to use prosthetics and live her life fully and without the constant pain. She had a few consultations that didn't pan out, and they were devastating. She KNEW what she needed and she was advocating for herself, yet so many doctors viewed it as an unnecessary procedure.

She had two amazing and beautiful boys and then in 2017, she went in for what she thought would be a routine doctor's appointment and was hit with the unthinkable- not only was she pregnant with her third baby, a little girl, but they discovered a tumor on her thyroid... she had cancer. She waited a few months until baby was a little stronger and bigger and then she underwent a thyroidectomy. Here she was, faced with more questions, more health scares, more uncertainty, but she stayed strong. She pushed forward, she kept the faith and she came through it, albeit without a thyroid. Baby girl was born in 2018, strong and healthy and gorgeous like her amazing mother.

In 2019, she found a doctor through some of her networking who seemed willing to work with her on the amputation idea. In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, she flew from her home in WA to Missouri to meet the doctor and consult with him. She felt heard and more than that, she felt validated in her feelings. So, she and her family, including her incredibly supportive mother, decided to make the move to MO in early 2021 to be closer to the doctor and she scheduled her first amputation. The doctor she found travels between MO and Florida and she ended up having to go to FL for her surgery, leaving her kiddos with her mom while she took care of her health. It was one of the hardest things she's had to do.

Surgery was a success. Her right leg was amputated about halfway down her calf and she went back to heal at a beautiful little Airbnb for a few weeks. During that time, she had some struggles. The pain medications they put her on gave her a few scares (being without a thyroid, your body doesn't metabolize food and drugs the same way it did before, and she found out just how bad it can be.) She ended up in the ER at one point because her heartrate was so low and her lips and fingers were turning blue. They made the adjustments she needed and things got better. She had some nerve pain, but that was to be expected. She had the staples removed and things started to heal nicely.

She made the trek home about two weeks after her surgery and things seemed to be going well! I went out to visit her about a week after she got home and it made my heart so happy... this girl is a survivor if I've ever met one. Then, things started to not seem right. Her wound started to open up in certain areas and the doctor told her over the phone it was all normal. Her nerve pain got worse. It got so bad that she eventually went into the ER at home and lo and behold... they found a staple that was not removed with the rest of them. It had become embedded in her wound and because she was instructed to keep the steri strips over the wound as it healed, it had nowhere to go when her body tried to expel it. The staple was removed and some time later, when the wound still wasn't healing again, she went back and they found a non dissolvable stitch that was left over and more than likely, wrapped around the nerve that was causing the pain.

Because the wound had gotten so bad at this point, her prosthetist (the doctor helping her get ready for her prosthetic,) very quickly got her a referral to a new doctor in MO. Thank God for this man and his diligence and help in advocating for Emma. She went in and they decided they would need to do a revision to her amputation... meaning they are going to basically do another amputation. On December 2nd, she will go in for the first of two surgeries... a deep debridement to ensure all sutures have been found and removed and to look at the damage done to the surrounding tissues. She will heal for a few days and then hopefully have her revision from there. She will be in the hospital for at least a few weeks before she's moved to a rehabilitation facility where they can really care for her in the way she should have been cared for in the beginning.

This also means she will be away from home for the holidays. She won't be home with her babies and her loved ones. It does sound like she'll be able to have visitors and she will be close to home, so we know this is a blessing. But, we also know it's hard on the entire family. It's hard for Emma to be away from her kids, it's hard for the kids to be away from their mom, it's hard for Emma's mom to be the caregiver of the kids and to be working full time. Let me tell you, the love in that house is STRONG and the way they support one another is something we should all strive for.

My hope in creating this fundraiser for Emma and her family is that maybe it can take a little stress off their shoulders. That it can help provide some reassurance and give them just a fraction of the light they've given me and so many others. Please visit Emma's YouTube Page "born broken- living victorious" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEbQGSs5vb-5Ir2svIiB2oQ to learn more about her journey and please, if you feel so inclined and have the ability, donate to this incredible human being and her family during this difficult time of new beginnings and renewal.

To Emma, Carly, Jack, Evan and Eleanor, you are all so very loved and I know that my life is better and brighter because of you. You've got this and we are with you on your journey!