Sunny Platz

Meet Sunny. After 16 months of waiting, she would have been the first woman and second person in the USA to be blessed with a 3D printed rib cage, until she was tragically and wrongfully refused surgery in February 2023, thus her life remains in jeopardy for an unknown amount of time.

Since returning home from traveling with her Nurse Advocate to have the surgery out of state and being refused this life-saving surgery, she is currently desperately seeking to find a team of surgeons locally who will be willing to perform surgery. Sunny has suffered a nightmarish burden emotionally, physically, and financially throughout this experience.

Without this 3D printed device, or another suitable artificial sternum/ribcage implant, Sunny will not only have an uncertain life expectancy, but a very poor quality of life. Without the protection of a rib cage or sternum, there is a high risk of damage to her organs. A fall or even an accidental bump from a person or object could be fatal for her.

Sunny’s medical struggle started in 2016 when she was diagnosed with a tumor of the sternum. The doctors had to remove a golf ball sized tumor together with a large portion of her sternum and ribs on both sides to ensure any and all cancer would be removed. Then her surgical team stabilized her remaining chest wall with hardware consisting of titanium rods and plates, which also entailed the use bone grafts, and the reconstruction of muscle flaps to avoid her having a huge gap in her chest. She recovered well and no cancer or tumor returned, but a short 5 years later, the hardware holding her chest together failed unexpectedly.

Since October 2021, Sunny has been suffering daily with the failed hardware inside her chest. She is at risk of having her heart or lungs punctured by broken titanium rods/plates, and protection for Sunny’s organs is gone. Because of this, she is in constant debilitating pain and fear of further injuries. Her physical abilities have been severely limited. She is unable to lie down and has been sleeping in a recliner chair for over 16 months. She has been restricted from driving and mostly stays in her home due to the risks involved. This is a huge emotional toll on Sunny and her family as well.

Giving to Sunny will help a young mom return to a quality of life that unfortunately does not exist for her because of this traumatic turn of events.