Cramlington's Melanie Hartshorn has made a further desperate plea for funds needed for a life-saving spinal operation - and spoken of her fear that if she can't gather enough money, she thinks she might die before she can rearrange the operation.
Northumberland-based Melanie's bid to raise the last £32,000 she needs for life-saving surgery in Barcelona has become ever-more urgent in recent weeks - as her condition has deteriorated and she is in constant pain. She suffers from Ehler-Danlos syndrome and this genetic condition causes her skull to dislocate from her neck and spine.
She has less than a week to raise the money needed. Without that, she fears her life will hang in the balance.
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Melanie is currently being kept alive by a surgical halo vest which she wears 24 hours a day - but this is breaking and her condition is deteriorating. She told ChronicleLive that, in the weeks since she last highlighted the urgency of her appeal for funds, her spine was dislocating more often - "popping out" - seizures were becoming more frequent and she was more reliant on oxygen than ever.
She said: "I'm really not very well at all. The halo has broken more - another of the upright posts has cracked and now I'm popping out all the time. I'm vomiting more, needing more oxygen, and I'm struggling to sit up for any time at all."
Melanie fears that because her halo is breaking and her symptoms worsening, she could well die without surgery in the next few months. Re-arranging the complex procedure is not straightforward, and wouldn't be possible until 2023.
For Melanie, cancelling "really isn't an option" and she said: "We just have to raise the funds."
She added: "The operation is on October 7th, and I have to be there three days earlier. My halo is just not going to last if I can't make this operation. And when I stop breathing and have seizures this is really life-threatening.
"If I can't get there for this date, the next available opportunity won't be until next year. January's a long time in the future. By then I'm not sure I'll make it."
As it stands she has raised £68,211 via her Go Fund Me page called 'Melanie's Mission to Live'. So she needs almost £32,000 more, in less than a week.
Melanie has been travelling to Spain for surgery, which isn't available on the NHS, for several years to stabilise her spine. She had her neck and spine fused during a major operation in Barcelona in 2017.
She has been forced to wear the halo since May last year as four broken titanium screws in her vertebrae have left the previously-fused vertebrae unstable. The latest surgery will again fuse her neck to her spine - but this time it is more risky as it will have to be carried out through her throat, as operating on her back is not possible.
Earlier this year, Melanie had to spend £7,000 on a trip to Barcelona so she could be fitted with a new halo. Her previous brace was broken for three months and the smallest of movements caused her to stop breathing, have seizures and suffer from nausea.
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