Lady Gaga saves GagaDaily moderator with hip replacement

[Jase 13,317]

ugh just read the news story with emma's words on how this all happened. BAWLING! So magical. 

 

My faith in humanity is somewhat restored!!

 

Gaga haters just look silly now

[RyanBall 1]

This is the thing with Gaga, she shows genuine gestures of her appreciation just like this. Her general charity efforts amaze me when compared with others in the business. Another reason to love Gaga.

[Rainbowgynous 0]

^ This, and she does it without calling the papers or going on Oprah or whatever!

[miju 375]

they talked about this on the radio today :)

[Little J 0]

You deserve Emma

 

 

go gaga

[Sara 1,128]

I just read Emma's new story on the front page of GGD. I'm crying all over again!

:sara:

[Urban 9]

I just read Emma's story, and I think she's so strong and brave, and I think she's such an inspiration! I'm so happy for her and wish her the best of luck for her surgery.   

[ChicaSkas 23,218]

Emma I am so happy for you :wub:

[Nate 0]

Just read it now and I'm baffled. I could wait for ARTPOP for years after reading this tbh

Edited April 18, 2013 by Twin

[Laddie GaGa 0]

What an extraordinary story and outcome.

[Bitter 3,640]

how is emma?? 

[DiscoHeavenGaga 0]

Thats why I love her so much! 

I'm happy for Emma. :)

[MonsterOfSpain 8,318]

How is Emma doing? :)

[Sara 1,128]

I'm posting the full text from the main News story here, so I can archive it with this thread.   :)

 

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As you may already know, Lady Gaga has reached out to our forum moderator Emma, who suffers from scoliosis and hip dysplasia, to pay for a trip to New York City to meet the same team of doctors who helped the singer with her own hip surgery last month. Emma was kind enough to share her story below:

Where to start? This whole thing still feels like a crazy dream that I haven’t woken up from. Prior to attending my Born This Way Ball on February 6th in St. Paul, MN, I never in a million years thought I’d meet one of my personal idols, let alone develop a friendship with her. If anyone ever told me that anything of that nature would ever happen to me, I’d probably call you crazy.

Despite a rough childhood with a lot of medical and emotional trauma, most of the time, I was always happy and smiling. My parents did a great job instilling me with good morals from the get-go – despite being physically different, but I was always treated just the same as any other child. Somewhere along the line, though, between constant hospital stays and surgeries, I realized that in fact, I had something that other people didn’t. And to be frank, it wasn’t something that I put in a positive light.

For example – my first childhood memory? Age three, circa 1997, we were living in a suburb of Sioux Falls, SD. I distinctly remember attempting to crawl around the hard-wood floors in a purple Spica cast – reason being, I had my very first major hip surgery due to hip dysplasia. With both legs casted and pins on my ball and sockets keeping the joints together, I spent over six weeks recovering. My parents – bless their souls – would travel six hours one way to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, MN – a hospital that specializes in treating children with all kinds of disabilities. Eventually, we had to move to a small northwestern Wisconsin town, where I’m still living, in order to be in closer proximity to the hospital’s main campus. Sixteen years, two near death experiences, and dozens of surgeries later, I maintain a very close relationship with the hospital and staff – often expressing my desire to work there as young as ages ten or eleven. Even throughout really difficult times, such as a second procedure to re-align my hips at age twelve and a full spinal fusion for life-threatening Scoliosis less than a year later, my family and I persevered and stuck it out.

 

In October of 2010, I went in for my usual six-month orthopedic check-up. Chronic pain has always been an issue – and always will be – but the hip pain in particular was coming back with a vengeance. I had acquired arthritis in both hips – meaning that there was no cartilage on either joint – and it was decided that this was the cause of the pain. That’s when we were first made aware of the fact that, somewhere down the line, I would eventually need a hip replacement. Being the procrastinator that I am, we tried pain management with Botox, cortisone, and phenol injections, directly around the hip socket, every six months. It’s done with a general anesthetic and is an outpatient procedure, but all of that aside, things were going smoothly for the most part. I knew that it wasn’t a “cure,†but it did give me pain relief.

Eventually, I had hit a tipping point where even I realized that enough was enough. In January of this year, I again had an appointment with my orthopedist/orthopedic surgeon. I was adamant in expressing my frequent discomfort regarding my hips and insisted on a replacement. Unfortunately for me, it’s not quite as cut-and-dry as one would think; due to my young age and high chance of dislocation, even with artificial hips, it was decided that if I could manage the pain with a constant Aleve regimen (for anti-inflammatory purposes), in addition to one more try of the Botox injections, that would be for the better as I would potentially avoid additional re-replacement surgeries as time went on. Again, although it wasn’t a cure, we were in agreement that we would try anything to bring the pain level down and thus attempt to avoid a surgery like this at such a young age.

In the meantime, I was referred to Dr. Palmer, a joint specialist at the hospital, who was supposed to fill me in one what a hip replacement really entails and how it’s done. As wonderful as my current orthopedist is, since he is technically in pediatrics, he outright admitted that because joint replacement isn’t in his “wheelhouse†due to primarily working with young children, he wouldn’t trust himself with my procedure and would rather refer me to another specialist instead. I distinctly remember my mom going up to the scheduling desk about this inquiry and saying something to the effect of, “We can’t be here on the 6th. She’s seeing Gaga!†Everyone laughed and I got a little flustered at her remark, but they were genuinely happy for me and wished me a good time at the show. At that point, I was scheduled for a visit with Dr. Palmer on February 20th.

 

I’m sure you all know the story of how I met Gaga by now. She was absolutely wonderful and warm to my parents and all my friends. One thing we did discuss deeply before the show was my own personal pain problems, which, ironically enough, she mentioned she was having herself, although there was no mention of her hip involved. I was genuinely concerned for her, but she brushed it off because of wanting so deeply to give everything to her fans each night on the road. She showed no signs of it during or after the show; and as you all know, the plug eventually had to be pulled after the Montreal, Quebec Born This Way Ball. Lane, one of Gaga’s assistants, who we met backstage and who also follows me on Twitter, direct messaged me one night with the words, “Hey Emma, what’s your phone number?†Thinking nothing of it, I sent it off. And, as fate would have it, the rest was history. It was Gaga on the other line.

When I answered, she simply said, “I’m on crutches and I’m occasionally in a wheelchair right now, because I ****ed my hip up after a show, but I’m okay, I promise. You’re making me brave! Make sure to tell all your friends that I love them.â€

It was a bit of a surreal moment knowing that I’d just gotten off the phone with her; even more so knowing that she personally thanked me, out of all people. As exciting as that was, I went about my business as usual. Then, on the 16th, I received a text message from the same number, telling me that she had named her wheelchair after me. She asked me how I was doing, and then proceeded to ask for my twitter handle. I’m pretty sure you know where this is going.

 

We pretty much always keep in contact and still do. She would update me on her condition; I would update her on mine. Somewhere along the line, my appointment with Dr. Palmer got pushed back to March 20th. Gaga offered me her team of doctors at that point, as well, but I turned her down; mostly because I trust the team that I currently have and I didn’t think she was actually serious.
When it got pushed back yet another month (Dr. Palmer is only at the clinic one day per month as it stands now), I vented my frustrations. She simply responded and asked if we had time to talk. I said yes, and she called, yet again.

When I answered the phone, she was extremely diligent about me seeing the same team that treated her a month or so prior and wouldn’t take no for an answer. My parents were right by my side and listening closely and intently; my mom got a little choked up. Through tears, she kept asking if she was serious and Gaga told us that yes, this was in fact, for real. After about twenty-five or so minutes, I hung up the phone – speechless, I finally let the tears come out and we just spent a few solid minutes hugging one another. It didn’t quite seem real to me and to be frank, I don’t think it will until we actually get on that plane and leave for the Big Apple next week; visiting New York City has also been a dream of mine. To say the least, I’m very, very, blessed and extremely thankful to Gaga and every single person that has been involved in making this happen. I will be sure to update you all throughout this new chapter and your well wishes mean the world.

With love,
Emma

[ChicaSkas 23,218]

I texted her and she was just resting last night. She's got to be so brave, I know it cheers her to see your posts though!