(Read the preceding parts of this story on our website.)

(Part 4/5) By the next morning when I woke up, my leg had grown to twice the size. I knew it was an emergency because the tumour was just eating and living off everything I was taking in, all my nutrients. I was like a walking dead person literally.

My life was hell and I was in constant pain. There was absolutely no pain killer that worked anymore. I had abused almost everything and nothing was working.

The day I got to UCH, because of all the administrative business, I didn’t have the injury cleaned. At this point, it was a big hollow. So the next day when it was time to clean it, I saw a maggot. The injury was cleaned with formalin. Formalin is what is used to embalm dead bodies, and that part of my body was literally dead and was smelling.

I honestly just couldn’t wait to get my life back. I wasn’t bothered about life as an amputee. I had never noticed anybody with an amputation in my life and didn’t know what it meant to live permanently with having to use crutches. But all of those things didn’t bother me because I just wanted my life back. I wanted to go back to school, I wanted to live again and I wanted to be happy. I wanted my parents to see that I was fine and strong. I had to be very strong for my folks, so whenever I wanted to cry I would cry when nobody was around.

On the 4th of February 2006, my limb was amputated and it has not been easy. It’s been an interesting roller-coaster ride over the past 10 years. There have been days when I have just not been in the mood to talk to anyone. Days when I have sat alone and wept. But there have been days too when I have felt so empowered and had so much energy like I could literally change the world. I have felt like a superwoman on those days. There are days when I get very irritable and fed up with wearing my prosthetic limb. On those days, I know I’m not in sync with the Holy Spirit because when I’m in sync with the Holy Spirit, no one can upset me.

I often wish I was born an American citizen so I can access all the latest prosthetic technology. Nothing ever prepares you for living with a disability.

(Read the concluding part of this story on our website.)