Welcome to our Lotsa Helping Hands Community web site. I am creating this website as a source of help and support for us while my wife prepares for, undergoes and rehabs from a right below the knee amputation to put an end to a lifetime of excruciating pain from a failing foot and ankle. Anyone who knows Melissa knows that she has always struggled with her leg. She was originally born with a right clubbed foot and has sufferd numerous injuries and complications over the past 33 years. She has undergone 11 foot and ankle reconstructions, countless procedures, multiple blood clots, excruciating pain, and years in casts/braces and on crutches. She is the most skilled person you will see on crutches. People have to struggle to keep up with her. Unfortunately, her ankle joint finally failed ths past summer and the pain has been intractable since. They have put her on morphine and on a kneeling scooter for transportation to keep her relatively comfortable until surgery. We have consulted all of the top foot and ankle surgeons and they all agree that there is nothing more they can do to save her leg. A below the knee amputation is her best option for a more mobile and pain-free life. We have thought long and hard about taking this next step and we are now prepared and ready to undergo this next chapter in our lives. Through all of this, Melissa has fought through it all with an incredible attitude and work ethic, always with a smile and a positive attitude. When others would have given up, she has pushed through and trained even harder to keep the rest of herself strong and sharp. Despite all that has been going on, she has not only maintained but continually succeeds at her full time job managing clinical trials at Joslin Diabetes Center. She plans to work right up until surgery. Surgery is scheduled for April 4 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. They will admit her 2 days prior to surgery, April 2, to start a continuous epidural nerve block to help prevent post surgical and phantom limb pain. From the day Melissa knew she needed surgery, she has worked so hard to set up all the details of surgery and rehab. No detail has been overlooked. She put an incredible medical team together and we are all prepared and ready for this life altering surgery and chance of a pain free and more mobile life. We are optimistic and hopeful, but danted by the amount of work such an event requires. We normally do not reach out for help, but we cannot go down this road alone. We are going to need a lot of prayers, help and support. Meissa's primary medical team wrote us a "prescription" for this website. We were told that it takes all of a caregiver to care for a loved one and a entire community to care for a caregiver. Please join us one our journey as we get Melissa a new leg. Help comes in many forms, from prayers and well wishes, to running errands, helping with transportation to rehab appts., or dropping off a hot meal. Please join our online community an help me help my beautiful, strong, amazing wife. Sincerely, Mike DeChellis