My name is Jessica Wilson. I am a single mom of an adult son. I am the oldest of 3 biological siblings but my mom was a treatment foster parent and adopted 7 more children. I was born premature. The doctors told my mother that I wasn't supposed to make it at birth because I was premature and that if I made it, I would have a lot of health issues.

So a little about myself, I have had 62 surgeries since the age 3. I was born with a rare bone birth defect the doctors don't know the name or the cause. I have been taken to doctor conventions as a child with my mother and doctor for other doctors from around the world so they could see my legs & feet to see if they seen a case like mine before and they haven't either.

As a child I was in leg & foot braces all my life but I didn't let that stop me. My doctor told my mother I was a very determined child and didn't let anything hold me back. When I would have a cast on, I would go through 2 casts a week because I would still play tackle football, basketball, jump rope etc outside. I have overcome plenty of obstacles growing up. As a child I still went to school instead of having a tutor after surgery. I was told I would not be able to play basketball or run track because at birth I was born with no tendon in my right foot to flex my foot up & down so I had a drop foot and was born with hammer toes, which is all my toes on my right foot were curled under, but I still played basketball from k5 all the way til college and continued once I got my leg amputated.

Everytime I would have a bone fused, it would stay fused for 6 months to a year then it would come unfused, or I would have a bone transplant done the bone would stay there for 6 months to a year then the bone would go away. So in 2018, I was working as a medical technician nurse, I got up to give a patient some meds and I couldn't put no weight on my foot so my supervisor took me to the emergency room. I was put in a boot and told to contact my orthopedic doctor asap. I contacted him and he ordered a MRI stat. I told him I know what's wrong, the bone in my foot came unfused again. So once he got the results, he said, "yes the bone is unfused again and I don't know if your mother told you that the doctors weren't expecting you to keep your leg & foot past the age 16". So I told the doctor, no my mother never told me so that tells you that he was just my doctor physically but THE LORD IS MY DOCTOR. When he feels it's time for me to get my foot & leg amputated, he will send a sign to me when he sees that I'm dealing with too much pain.

So I had a below the knee amputation November 11, 2018. The doctor didn't wrap my stump correct so I developed a contractured knee my knee was bent at a 90 degree angle. I kept telling the doctor something was wrong. My therapist was telling the doctor something is wrong because they couldn't straighten my stump with 3 therapist. He said I was fine. I told my doctor when I first met him before you do an amputation please look at my knee because i had knee problems. He didn't want to listen to me and went ahead with the below knee amputation. So I contacted my primary doctor and asked her to order a MRI of my knee after I told her everything that was going on and the MRI showed I had meniscus tears really bad so I told the surgeon and he told me since I contacted my primary doctor to have her to find me a new surgeon.

I'm a living testimony, my pastor tells me because in 2014 when I had a total hip replacement, the nurses over medicated me I was in a coma for 10 hrs. All I could hear is my mom saying something is wrong, my daughter is always awake after surgery up talking & eating and I could hear my son asking my mother why my mommie not waking up. They didn't contact my doctor until 11pm to let him know I still haven't woken up. So my bishop tells me you have a story to tell to somebody out there that might be going through the same thing I went through.

My ambitions for the future is to continue coaching basketball and spreading my story and being there for other amputees that need somebody to talk to during that process because nobody was there for me during that big change in my life.