We have your back - Letty

Hello everyone!

My name is Letty and I have a condition called Spondylolisthesis is a spinal condition that causes lower back pain. It occurs when one of our vertebrae slips out of place onto the vertebra below it. In this condition, a stress fracture on the pars articularis (small, thin portion of the vertebra that connects the upper and lower joints on the spine.) causes the vertebrae to slip forward on the vertebrae directly below it.

I had a tumor on my back which was operated on in 2016. As a consequence my back needed to be fused from L1 to L3. The situation is that the titanium bars that they had to put on were straight when they needed to be curved. Due to the unnatural position the rest of my back was forced to move to compensate for this and thus the listhesis at L5 started and as time progressed it has been getting worse.

I had lost strength on my left leg, and my ankle reflexes. I couldn’t stand for more than 10 min, and any position caused me a lot of pain. The pills I was taking was to control neuropathy which causes uncomfortable symptoms, like pins and needles down my legs and sharp pains on my lower back. The condition and the chronic pain I lived with was impacting my quality of life and making it hard for me to enjoy or do daily activities.

The ONLY solution was to have another operation to remove the bars from the first operation, reposition the vertebrae and fuse all the way from L1 to S1 with curved bars and a lumbar box separator. Due to my doctor advising me of the urgency from my deterioration, I have had the surgery on the 19th September.

If I didn’t get the surgery when I did I could have had permanent nerve damage which could have lead to a series of problems , like reduction or complete loss of sensation, weakness. If the nerves had gotten damaged they wouldn’t have sent signals to the brain. And the constant state of numbness would have made walking difficult if not impossible.

I have currently had to take a loan out for the costs to be able to pay for this as I could not wait any longer.

I have paid for the following;

Each screw was $334.44pounds, I had 14 screws. Total: 4,682.16

Each lumbar box cost was $713.48 pounds, I had 2. Total:: 1426.96

Medical expenses: $2700 pounds.

Hospital expenses: $2675.53 pounds.

Total cost: 12,911.61 pounds

I will need physical rehabilitation, further scans, medicines and doctor consultations that I will also have to find for myself. Plus the time I am taking off work due to the recovery I am undergoing.

Appreciate anything you can do to help, I know together we can do great things.!