A young woman has shared how a long-term, severe health condition has left her preparing to have both legs amputated.
Megan Dixon, 21, from Cambridgeshire, UK, has lived with functional neurological disorder (FND) and says she has endured relentless pain for the last eight years.
Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a condition linked to problems with how the brain communicates and sends signals to the rest of the body.
After years of worsening symptoms, Megan says she feels she has no remaining alternative other than amputation. She is now raising money for an electric wheelchair, having been unable to walk since she was 14.
“It was the hardest when I met with the amputee clinic and they said amputation was my best and only option,” Megan explained.
“I was hoping deep down they would say there was another way.
“But this is my reality now and I haven’t fully come to terms with it yet.”
Megan says her health problems began when she was 13, when she was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). Despite undergoing physiotherapy, she says her legs became fixed in a straight position.
“From there I got worse and worse,” she explained.
“I started to go into a comatose-like state. When I was 16, I stopped being able to sit up by myself and I started to lose the ability to speak.
“My paediatrician was concerned I’d had a stroke so I was rushed to hospital. I was supposed to be in for tests over four days – I came out a year and a half later.”
Over time, Megan says she lost her speech and mobility, along with strength and sight. She became paralysed from the neck down and was later diagnosed with FND.
“I could feel my bones in my legs grating together but I kept being told the pain was in my head and it wasn’t real,” she said.
“I was silently screaming for 24-hours a day. When I went into a coma-like state, I had no idea what was going on. No one could wake me up.
“My legs were completely locked straight and even under anaesthetic, they couldn’t bend my knees.
“My left leg had started to bend the wrong way by ten degrees.”
Megan says she left the children’s hospital when she was 18, but believes she was discharged without the support she needed.
“I had essentially been left to rot and die in bed,” she claimed.
“My family complained about my care and I was sent to a private nursing home specialising in neurological disorders. I was completely paralysed from the neck down and I had to work on getting all of my functions back. But equally my legs got worse and worse.
“I’d seen six different surgeons and was turned away by five.
“When I finally found a surgeon to help me, it had been so long that the damage in my knees was irreversible.
“My left knee is bent at a 45 degree angle and my right is close behind. My only option left is amputation.”
Megan is scheduled to undergo amputation surgery in August and is currently fundraising for an electric wheelchair and additional medical equipment.
She added:
“If something doesn’t feel right in your body, please listen to it and trust yourself. For six years I was dismissed, and as a result the only surgery now available to me is, regrettably, amputation.
“If you are facing amputation, I want to be honest with you—there are no words that can truly make it easier. It is a devastating and life-changing experience, and something I would never wish on anyone.
“… Keep fighting for the life that comes after. None of us should have to face something like this, but if it leads to a future where life is a little more bearable, a little less painful, and holds more independence. Then all of this will be worth it.”
You can find Megan’s GoFundMe here.