A Cape Breton woman is hoping to travel from Sydney, N.S., to Sydney, Australia for surgery to improve her mobility.
Carol Langille says her life changed forever the day she was involved in a motorcycle accident on Kelly’s Mountain in Cape Breton three years ago.
“Eventually I had to lose my leg,” she says.
Langille had to have her right leg amputated above the knee. Now, she says it’s hard to get around due to complications from her accident. Langille says her prosthetic doesn’t fit properly and causes her pain and discomfort.
“Eventually, the prosthetist determined that my limb has a unique shape at the distal end and she said that's a big factor in trying to get a socket to fit properly,” says Langille.
The procedure Langille is hoping to receive is called osteointegration. The surgery involves a perforated rod being put into the femur, allowing the bone to grow around it.
Langille says the out of country operation is not covered on her health plan and the surgery can’t be done in Canada or the United States.
“Currently, Australia is the forefront in this,” she says.
Langille figures the cost will be about $150,000 including physiotherapy and staying in Australia for about a month to recover.
She’s appealing to the Nova Scotia government for part of the funding and her friends have started a GoFundMe page to come up with the rest of the cost.
Langille says ultimately, she hopes to get from one Sydney to the other to better her quality of life.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
