In 2018, life was good! I was enjoying serving as a full-time missionary with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I also just finished a semester of school at BYU- Idaho on campus before setting out to serve a teaching mission. I loved campus life! I made friends with some awesome roommates and thrived in an environment that accepted my learning disabilities and encouraged me to learn to the best of my ability. It prepared me to be away from home for what would be a longer period, an eighteen-month full-time dedication to sharing my beliefs. I knew it wasn't going to be easy for me, having been diagnosed previously with ADHD and dyslexia. I also found out at sixteen that I have a specific learning disability in mathematics and one in processing as well.

I had things against me from day one of wanting to serve a mission, but I also had a very determined spirit about me. I did get flagged in my mission paperwork and was required to do extra interviews because of some mental health factors. Thankfully, I was able to clear those, and I was approved to continue trying to serve, but I was also told I needed to stay in the United States due to difficulty trying to get my ADHD medications outside my home country.

In the following three and a half years, I experienced the true hell of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome day in and day out with no end in sight. From ice-cold burning to hypersensitivity, I experienced CRPS going from mild to pretty severe within a very short time period. I went from walking normally to limiting how much I was walking, to using a knee scooter and occasional wheelchair, to it becoming so painful that putting any pressure through my left foot was unbearable. I went through lidocaine and ketamine infusions, back injections, and nerve blocks under the knee for CRPS. Nothing worked long-term. Eventually, I even built up a resistance to ketamine. Then the Covid 19 pandemic shut down medical tourism to Italy, so receiving bisphosphonates was no longer an option.

September 24th, 2021, I finally made the call and had my left leg amputated through elective surgery. We had a pirate party on the day of my amputation because it really was a day of HOPE for my future! But things were not immediately better just because I decided to amputate. I still had a long road ahead with fitting into a very specialized prosthetic and a tough battle with phantom pain.