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Three years ago, when Hannah Moore was only 16 years old, she developed an ingrown toenail on her right foot. She initially thought she could take care of it easily, just like any other ingrown toenail, but the condition ended up growing into something much bigger.
Moore ended up needing to get surgery to fix the ingrown nail, but the problem didn’t end there. It persisted and grew worse. She eventually developed complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), a chronic pain condition that often develops after surgeries.
The pain was so intense that Moore took up to 40 pills every day to keep it in check and allow her to carry out her day-to-day activities. “I was just mainly confused because I didn't know what was happening,” Moore recalled, “You don't expect anything to develop just from ingrowing toenails, to this scale anyway.”
Before Moore had developed her ingrown toenail, she had loved practicing karate and was on track to becoming one of England’s top competitors. By age 15, she already had a black belt and was looking forward to all the competitions she could enter.
Once the pain from her toenail set in and refused to leave though, Moore chose to abandon her sport. Taking so many pills each day to just barely manage the pain was too much; she no longer wanted to deal with her ingrown toenail pain.
Moore asked her doctors to have her leg amputated. She felt that this was the only way she would be able to get rid of her pain for good.
Her doctors were extremely conflicted about it. They didn’t believe such drastic measures were necessary, but Moore held her ground.
“The past three years have been an absolute nightmare,” she admitted, “it's amazing how much my life changed just because of an ingrown toenail. I couldn't be happier now that I've had my leg amputated, I wasn't scared I was excited.”
Now, although Moore no longer has her right leg, she has already set sights on conquering a new sport: wheelchair racing. Everyone around her calls her an inspiration and can’t help but notice that Moore “still seems to really enjoy the fullness of her life.”
