Dancer and Health TRainer Undergoes 34 Surgical procedures to Keep away from Amputation (Unique)

Warning: This story comprises graphic imadges.

Amberly Lago felt like she had all the pieces. She was residing her California dream with a profitable profession as a health teacher alongside her husband and two daughters when a horrific accident utterly modified her life. 

In Could 2010, the then 38-year-old was driving her motorbike by Los Angeles when an SUV collided together with her, sending her from her bike into the center of the busy highway.

“They got here at me so quick and I used to be thrown about 30 toes,” she remembers. “After I lastly stopped sliding throughout the asphalt, I seemed down at my leg and it was simply damaged into items. I imply, there was blood in all places. I used to be simply pondering to myself, oh my goodness, that is like a type of horror films the place you see the blood squirt out. With each beat of my coronary heart, blood simply goes capturing out.”

Lago was rapidly rushed to the hospital with a shattered leg and a severed femoral artery. She tells PEOPLE that whereas within the ambulance, her ache was excruciating. 

“I’ve had two infants. I’ve handed kidney stones, and that is the worst ache I’ve ever skilled in my life,” says Lago, who now lives in Heath, Texas. “I bear in mind squeezing the paramedic’s leg and wanting him to make some type of eye contact with me to let me know, ‘You are going to be high quality.’ However he would not have a look at me. I assumed, ‘Oh my gosh, does he know I will die?’” 

“I actually thought I used to be going to die,” she provides. “After which I type of wished I would die as a result of I used to be in a lot ache.”

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When Lago arrived on the emergency room of Northridge Hospital, her situation was so unhealthy that docs positioned her in a medically induced coma for over every week. 

After waking up, she was instructed the worst.

“They stated, ‘I am so sorry to let you know, however we have to amputate your leg. You could have a 1% likelihood of saving it,’” she remembers. “I used to be like, wow, so that you’re saying there’s an opportunity? Yeah, let’s reserve it.”

Towards medical recommendation, Lago refused to have docs amputate. As an alternative, after “a whole lot of pulling strings,” she was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle to work with Dr. Donald Wiss, an orthopedic surgeon who was keen to try to save her leg. “He’s like my hero,” she says.

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From that time, Lago underwent 34 surgical procedures on her leg. The method was grueling, however in her thoughts, there was no different selection.

“They stated I will be completely disabled. I am going to by no means stroll once more, I am going to by no means work once more. I used to be like, no, that is simply not the life I see for me. I will stroll once more,” she stresses. 

It took a yr for Lago to stroll once more. However with every extra surgical procedure, she felt like she was restarting her restoration. “I might be strolling after which I would have one other surgical procedure and be again in a wheelchair, then again on crutches, then I would stroll once more simply to have to start out over,” she says.

Lago was in bodily remedy 5 days every week. She jokes that she was on the rehabilitation heart a lot that the proprietor ended up giving her a key to the constructing. 

Along with the numerous surgical procedures, Lago was additionally recognized with advanced regional ache syndrome 4 months after the accident.

Advanced regional ache syndrome (CRPS) is a uncommon neurological situation that causes fixed or intermittent ache within the extremities, usually growing after an harm or surgical procedure, in line with the Cleveland Clinic. Signs embrace swelling, a burning sensation, throbbing ache, excessive sensitivity to the touch, decreased skill to maneuver the affected space, muscle spasms, weak spot and extra.

The situation — sometimes called “suicide illness” — could make even routine procedures, like taking a blood strain studying, excruciating. There isn’t any treatment, and efficient therapies are restricted.

“Every single day I really feel like I’ve one million rubber bands wrapped round my foot and ankle and hearth ants stinging me,” Lago explains. “That has been the toughest factor.”

“I used to be like, nope. This can’t be my life. I used to be in denial for a very long time about that,” she continues. “I did not wish to consider that I used to be recognized with one thing like this, and it’s supposedly incurable.” 

Through the years, Lago has tried numerous therapies to alleviate a few of her ache, even not too long ago touring to Costa Rica for different therapies. However nothing has helped.

“I had spinal blocks, I had a spinal stimulator, I had ketamine infusion, opioids. I’ve tried each type of therapy,” she shares. “At one level, I used to be on 38 homeopathic drugs and 11 totally different prescription drugs at one time simply to attempt to get by the day.” 

The situation paired with the ups and downs of her restoration finally took a toll on her psychological well being. Not solely was she struggling by her continual ache, but it surely was additionally troublesome to return to phrases together with her new look.

“I used to be knowledgeable dancer and health coach… and now have a look at me. I am deformed. I am scarred from the hip down,” she says. “I put a lot into these scars and the imperfections. I hated myself, I actually hated myself.”

That disgrace and self-hatred finally led to alcohol abuse as a approach to “numb” her ache.

“I used to be about prepared to surrender. I ended up in a spot the place I actually did not wish to get up. I simply began isolating and consuming extra,” she explains. “It would be this vicious cycle of simply being in ache and promising myself I am not going to drink, however the ache can be so extreme that I simply wanted aid. I used to be utilizing alcohol as drugs.”

It wasn’t till a single second in 2016 together with her surgeon, Dr. Wiss, that her perspective lastly shifted. 

“He did one thing that modified my life. He put my leg in his lap, and he checked out it prefer it was a miracle. It was his masterpiece,” she remembers. “And I began to suppose, oh my gosh, if he can have a look at my leg that means, then perhaps I can be taught to take a look at it that means too and like it once more.”

“However these are the battles I needed to overcome,” she says. “It took quite a bit to look down at my scars like wow, these aren’t disgusting and ugly.”

Lago — who has been sober since that turning level in 2016 — explains that through the years, she merely determined to maintain a optimistic mindset. She had the selection to both have a look at her leg and really feel sorry for herself or get again on her toes.

“So that is what I select to do,” she boasts. “Ache has been my biggest instructor. I feel that ache pushes you till your objective pulls you.”

“I simply attempt to do my finest to be mentally, spiritually, bodily as robust as I can and actually work on my mindset to get by the onerous days,” she provides.

Fifteen years after her accident, Lago, now 53, sees herself as having only a few limitations in life.

Regardless of her continual ache, she’s strolling on her personal, lively within the fitness center, and loves embarrassing her daughters with how a lot she dances. She additionally frequently attends Alcoholics Nameless conferences and values the supportive group she’s constructed since her accident. “It is the reference to different people who will get me by,” she notes.

Lago’s now making ready for one more leg surgical procedure on June 2 — a reminder that though she’s in a greater place, her restoration is at all times ongoing.

“That is one thing that I dwell with each single day,” she provides. 

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As an creator, motivational speaker, coach and podcast host, Lago has since devoted herself to encouraging others to have resilience, which she says has been the largest consider her journey. Earlier this yr, she launched her newest e-book, Joy Through The Journey, a information to serving to individuals reclaim their pleasure by the ups and downs of life.

Lago admits to PEOPLE that wanting again and reflecting isn’t one thing she tends to do, however she nonetheless acknowledges how far she’s come.

“I survived this,” she says. “I simply type of have a look at, properly, what are the probabilities forward?”