Katie MacMillan has dedicated her life to sports but a nagging foot injury led her to being diagnosed with a rare bone disease that's sidelined the teenager from playing any sports.
Katie competed competitively for seven years as a cheerleader before switching to the sport of paddling, but it's been a while since she has been able to compete in any sport.
At the age of 11, Katie was diagnosed with an osteochondrodysplasia bone defect in her left ankle from cheerleading.
"I had a surgery and I never got better after the surgery and over the years it progressively got worse," says the 16-year-old.
Katie lives with complex regional pain syndrome, a condition that usually starts in a limb after a fairly minor injury.
"So for her, the pain started in her ankle and then as she became more active as an athlete, it started to spread," says Michele Macmillan, Katie's mother.
Katie describes it as pins and needles everywhere, she says sometimes it can feel as though she is being electrocuted.
"We can't hug Katie because it hurts her to hug her," says Macmillan.
Before the injury, Katie's mom says she was an energetic and athletic child, who now, spends the majority of her time in bed, unable to be touched without experiencing pain.
"I'm unable to play sports anymore, run, lift weights, I can't go to school often anymore – maybe one or two classes a week. I don't see friends, I don't really get out of the house anymore," says Katie.
Katie has been on multiple different kinds of pain medications, but little has helped her condition. Back in January, the family had a two-day appointment at the Spero Clinic located in Arkansas where testing showed they can help Katie.
"It's the only clinic of its kind in the world and they specialize in complex pain – what they are able to do is whole-body remedies," says Macmillan.
The family will be returning to Arkansas in April so Katie can receive full treatment however, the clinic is out of pocket and Macmillan says it will cost around $140,000.
"Really good friends of ours started a GoFundMe, which is very humbling by the way, to try and help us out so we've raised a little bit of money that way," says Macmillan.
In addition to the fundraising site, Katie's mother says they are also remortgaging their house to better fund the treatment.
"I just want to get back to playing sports again and going to school. Most kids don't want to go to school, but I'd really like to go back," says Katie.
