Come on body, keep going, the first time is always the worst

Reporter SITTING up in her hospital wheelchair, Melanie Hartshorn looks to the future

For more than two years a debilitating condition has forced her to live life lying down, unable even to lift her own head.

But on Tuesday night she sat up for the first time in years after making it through a nine-hour operation to fuse her skull and neck together.

Posting on Facebook from the hospital in Barcelona, the 27-year-old wrote: “I was TERRIFIED, it was like running a marathon (I’m pouring with sweat, in agony and my heart rates going crazy)... but it was 100% worth it!!

“Come on body, keep going, the first time’s always the worst, now to rest and get pain under control as I’m in agony – onwards and upwards!”

It marks an emotional turning point for Melanie after years of living with a rare condition which has left her housebound and in constant agony.

She suffers from a severe form of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes all her joints to dislocate – especially those in her spine and neck.

As a result, Melanie has an acute case of cranio-cervical instability, which was causing her skull to sink into her spine.

As a child, she could walk, but had to use a wheelchair for long distances.

During her childhood she underwent three major spinal operations but, when she was 12, dislocations.

For the last two years Melanie and her family have been trying to raise £150,000 for specialist surgery in the USA.

But last month they were handed a lifeline when a neurosurgeon from Barcelona agreed to take on her case.

World renowned Dr Vicenc Gilete agreed to take on Melanie’s case despite it being one of the most complex and serious he has ever seen.

She touched down in Spain last week and was placed in a metal surgical halo, where a metal framework is screwed into the skull to stabilise the skull and neck.

Writing on her Facebook appeal page, Melanie said surgeons removed her halo on Monday, meaning she “has my face back again”.

Melanie still needs funds to pay for further surgery and flights home to the UK.

It is expected she will be in Spain for around six weeks. To donate to Melanie’s fight, visit: www.gofundme.com/Melanie-s-Mission she began suffering