Ellen Martin CRPS - Burning Alive

Ellen Martin is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

" I feel like my body is being burnt alive."

" Imagine feeling like your body is being set on fire while being electrocuted."

"I just want my life back."

"You've been diagnosed with the Suicide Disease."

Hello Everyone! My name is Ellen Martin; I am a 25-years old from Surrey, United Kingdom. I am a sports coach and keen football player having played for clubs such as Fulham, AFC Wimbledon, University of Birmingham, Aston Villa, MK Dons, Sutton Coldfield and Tamworth FC.

On 7th November 2021, while playing in a football match, I sustained a knee injury that tore the ligaments inside my knee... this meant I needed surgery and then 12 months of rehabilitation to return to playing football.

On 31st December, I had my knee surgery, and I began my rehabilitation process. HOWEVER, within six weeks of me starting physiotherapy, it became clear something was not right; my knee was extremely painful for the length of time that had passed since surgery. My knee and lower leg would change colour to either bright red or purple and be extremely hot or ice cold. Thankfully I have a brilliant physiotherapist who noticed these changes and referred me back to my surgeon for further testing to rule out damage within my knee.... how I wish this were the outcome now.

My MRI scans came back clear, which unfortunately meant the symptoms I was showing were the development of a condition called COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME (CRPS).

Instantly I turned to google to find out what CRPS was... and the result was the worst possible outcome I could have read. I immediately broke down, crying and screaming in tears.

"THE SUICIDE DISEASE"

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, also known as "The Suicide Disease" due to its extreme pain and sufferers find it too hard to live with the pain - is a disease of the Central Nervous System. It is characterised by severe, chronic, high-intensity neuropathic pain that affects a limb, usually after trauma, injury or surgery. The associated pain from the injury is far more severe and longer-lasting than expected and is most often described as severe constant burning. If the condition spreads, it can shut down organs... any part of the body that has nerves can be affected.

The nervous system malfunctions and the nerves send constant and erroneous pain signals to the brain. The McGill Pain Index, a scale rating of pain developed by McGill University, rates CRPS as the top pain humans can experience ahead of childbirth and amputation without anaesthesia. It is a living hell.

CRPS is rare enough that many health professionals have not even heard of the term are not familiar with the disease. Patients are told there is NO CURE.

MY PAIN

Since my diagnosis, my symptoms have spread quickly and are getting worse. Daily I am faced with severe burning pain within my body; on a good day, I can walk with a limp a few steps, and my body doesn't burn all day. On my worst days, I can't get out of bed from the pain that engulfs my entire body. I now experience burning in my legs, feet, hands, back, and face/eyes. I'm becoming unable to touch my own skin due to severe pain, and being outside with wind or cold weather is also painful. It truly feels like I am being burnt from the inside out, and there is no escape. I am trapped in my body.

My life has spiralled downwards from a split-second tackle in a football match. I have been unable to walk freely, sit in a chair normally, socialise with friends and family or work. My whole life has paused. With this diagnosis and the rate at which mine is spreading, I have been told the prognosis is not positive, and I will slowly watch my life at 25 years of age disappear through chronic severe burning pain and loss of functionality and mobility.

The daunting reality of life with CRPS is isolating, terrifying and debilitating. My doctor hadn't even heard of the condition and believed the pain was 'inside my head'. I am already dosed up on medications that cause 'brain fog' and severe side effect on top of my CRPS pain. I have been unable to rehabilitate my knee from the surgery .

Why I am making this fundraiser:

Through spending weeks and months researching anything possible to find a glimmer of hope with this condition, that doesn't involve a lifetime of medications that make the condition worse or spinal operations, neither which treat the problem and 'simply cover' symptoms, I was left terrified and deflated that no medical professional or internet page could take my pain away.

However, I eventually found some hope! A clinic in the USA that specialises in treating patients specifically with CRPS!!!!!!

THE SPERO CLINIC

The Spero Clinic, Arkansas, is a holistic medical treatment centre specifically designed to treat chronic neurological pain conditions. The Spero Clinic is a 12+ week intensive treatment programme designed to restore balance to the central nervous system with the outcome of reduced or complete removal of pain and increased mobility in CRPS patients. They treat the whole body as one, from the inside out - they believe that every human body is capable of healing if given the right tools.

They are the only place in the world successful in putting CRPS into remission, and hundreds of patients now live entirely pain-free and normal lives.

THE CLINIC HAS A 84.5% SUCCESS RATE IN PUTTING CRPS INTO REMISSION.

Here is their website: Spero Clinic Website

I have found a glimmer of hope that I can return to the wonderful life I lived before my injury and diagnosis.

Spero Clinic Video:

Sadly the clinic is not covered by any insurance and will require one of my family members and me to move to the clinic for three months to fight for my health and future. Due to the intensive treatments over the 12 weeks and the cost of accommodation, i need £30,000 to be able to go,

I understand, just like myself, many may believe this is 'too good to be true', and naturally, I had these reservations, but when you're faced with the horrific reality of life with CRPS... going to this clinic will be the best thing I ever do. I have since spoken with numerous patients who have attended the clinic who are now in remission and honestly now believe it is the place I need to be,

So please, if you can, help me on my journey to remission from CRPS. I will be forever grateful. It's impossible to articulate or put into words what the last five months have been like, so the thought of deteriorating further is truly terrifying.

Thank you to my family and all my friends for supporting me so far and for the sacrifices that have already been made to ensure I can receive the best possible outcome from this terrifying condition.

I want the chance to fight against what many and myself have been told is impossible .. the chance to live a pain-free life from CRPS.. the chance to no longer burn alive daily. So in advance, thank you so much for everyone's help and support.

WHAT MY CRPS CURRENTLY LOOKS LIKE: