WHEN Jessica Gray was just ten-years-old, she fell down the stairs and hurt her ankle.

It might seem like a normal injury for a youngster to have – but the pain in her ankle persisted after the fall.

Doctors advised Jessica’s mum to simply give her some Calpol to help ease the pain.

But when the pain persisted, Jessica went back to the doctors to find she was actually suffering with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

CRPS is a poorly understood condition where a person experiences persistent severe and debilitating pain.

The pain usually only affects one limb, but it can sometimes spread to other parts of the body.

The skin of Jessica’s foot became so sensitive that just a slight touch, bump or even a drop of water made her fall unconscious.

Using the McGill Pain chart, CRPS scores the highest, even higher than cancer and childbirth.

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Because of the pain, Jessica, now 21, was bed bound for four years and during that time her foot swelled and she also experienced lesions.

In June 2019 she developed sepsis in her foot and and had to be incubated and airlifted to the hospital as her kidneys and liver had started to shut down.

She got over that bout of septicaemia, however went on to develop sepsis again a year later.

Due to being in the hospital, medics were able to act quickly. 

Surgeons assessed her and said the infection had spread to her bone and they needed to amputate her foot and lower leg.

On March 7 2021, Jessica had life-saving surgery and had her amputation, giving her a much better life expectancy.

What is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)?

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a rare condition which is usually triggered by an injury.

Sufferers often experience a mix of stinging, burning and stabbing pains, with the affected area becoming extremely sensitive.

It usually is confined to just one limb, but can spread in rare cases.

The pain associated with CRPS is so extreme that it can cause psychological problems, such as depression or anxiety, in some sufferers

Jessica said: "My journey with CPRS has been a long uphill battle, after going through hell the past nine years, I’ve finally had my amputation which so far has all gone okay.

“The doctors explicitly stated that the amputation was the last resort to save my life.

“I asked what would happen if I stopped the fifteen intravenous antibiotics a day I was having, the doctor said I would become septic again and potentially have days to live.

“I was in so much pain that my pain killer dosage was enough to kill a beefy grown man.”

Jessica now documents her story on Instagram in order to help others who may be living with an incurable condition.

She said one of the things that has helped her feel like herself again, is being able to wear trousers.

“You take for granted wearing trousers, it’s just something you do, but because my foot was so big it was impossible to get them on due to the size and pain.

I've been through a lot and managed to get over three or four bouts of severe sepsis where at points I was hours away from death

"My condition meant that before my amputation, I had large chunks of numb patches from the top of my right leg down to my ankle, which made trying to move really difficult as I could not manually move my leg.

“After my surgery, an incredible company called Sweaty Betty got in contact via Instagram and kindly gifted me some new leggings to wear after surgery”, she said.

Jessica wore the leggings for the first time on October 18 2021 and said it’s a day she will never forget.

“I've been through a lot and managed to get over three or four bouts of severe sepsis where at points I was hours away from death.

“Seeing myself with leggings on and no leg caused a lot of mixed emotions, both happy and sad.

“But it was lovely because I felt like there was a glimmer of hope and a realisation I’ve got over so many hurdles, where the odds were against me, and here I am now, wearing leggings looking like the ‘old jess’ again, well minus a leg!

“For years I had been unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel and finally my life took a turn.”

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Now, Jessica says that people message her all the time to ask questions about her journey and even ask her for advice if they are also due to have an amputation.

She said: “People on Instagram message me all the time, either with questions about my journey or for advice on their own upcoming amputations,” she says.

“I also have a lot of people suffering from CRPS themselves message me.

“They feel that they can share thoughts with me that their families or doctors wouldn’t understand.

“I have stated on my profile that I will answer all questions as honestly as I can and I try to adhere to that and help as many people as I can.

“I would like to thank the continued support of family, friends, all the doctors and nurses, everyone on Instagram, sweaty Beatty for my leggings, and Magpus Air Ambulance for getting me to the hospital quick and help save my life.”

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