A woman who has spent the majority of her life lying down spent four-and-a-half weeks in intensive care following the first part of a potentially life-saving operation.
Melanie Hartshorn suffers from a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which causes her skull to dislocate from her neck and spine. The 33-year-old, who lives in Cramlington, Northumberland, struggles to sit up and spends most of her time confined to her bed.
Since May last year, she has been kept alive by a surgical halo vest. Melanie said the halo was only a short term solution and she needed to raise £100,000 for an operation to fuse her neck to her spine.
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At the beginning of October, Melanie travelled to Barcelona in Spain to undergo the operation, which is not available on the NHS. She managed to raise more than £84,000 on her Go Fund Me page and said a "very kind person" offered her a loan as a last resort to ensure the surgery went ahead.
However only the first part of the surgery, which was carried out through her throat, was completed as Melanie's body was not strong enough to endure the long operation. She was placed into an induced coma on the intensive care unit (ICU) where she has been recovering from surgery.
Melanie spent four-and-a-half weeks in ICU before being released onto a ward earlier this week. She has now had her tracheotomy stitched shut and was able to sit up in her wheelchair with the front and back of the halo vest removed.
She posted on Facebook: "Finally in my room on the ward! Had my tracheotomy stitched shut today just before I moved, so now it’s much better! Should heal nice and I can talk easier! My room is nice and airy, aircon on, big open ceiling so I can watch my projector soon, once we set it up! I’ve just had my first actual drink other than water and so far so good!!!
"Back in bed chilling now and going to watch a film, mums here 24/7 now so everything’s going to be much better than just 2 visits a day! And the icu staff were lovely even popped in to see me…. But I’m glad to be out of there after 4.5weeks! Hoping I’m not on the ward tooooo long and can get back to the apartment soon."
Melanie's fundraising has been made more difficult as she has spent longer than expected in ICU. She will need to return to Barcelona to undergo the second part of the operation at a later date.
She posted: "Unfortunately due to it being such a complex surgery and me needing to regain my strength properly before any other surgeries can be done - I will be returning home to the U.K. first.
"Obviously I was hoping to have the surgeries done all in the one trip so I can recover asap and get back to living life to the full as soon as possible, but, we need my body to be strong enough… and I’ll just have to be patient with it!
"I’m in a much better position than I was when I arrived so I’m very grateful for everyone’s help and support getting me this far and being halo free is going to be amazing- although it’s scary after spending so long in it!"
Melanie will also need to pay out extra money on Friday to cover the treatment she received while in ICU. She added: "Unfortunately due to the prolonged ICU stay (one weekend turned into 4.5weeks) we have to pay an extra £25K by Friday … so any help with fundraising events, donations, and simply sharing posts will be a massive help!"
Melanie previously had her neck and spine fused during a major operation in Barcelona in 2017. However four broken titanium screws in her vertebrae have caused the fusions to be unstable.
She said this time the surgery is even more risky as it will have to be carried out through her throat, as it's not possible to operate on her back. However she said the operation is the only way to save her life.
Molly, who is also mum to Meryem, 31, and grandmother to Katiya, 10, previously begged the community for help so her daughter could undergo life-saving surgery.
Melanie's fundraising total has now been raised to £150,000 to cover the cost of further surgery. She has so far raised £89,896.
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