My story
My name is Sophia Bailor. I love to mountain bike, play and watch soccer, and do anything in nature! I experienced many complex traumatic events as a child, which resulted in my development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I struggled through high school, self-harming daily, and surviving two suicide attempts. I went through many hospitalizations and treatment centers, but none of them seemed to help me. On July 29, 2019, I attempted suicide for the third time. After suffering traumatic leg amputation, hypothermia, tachycardia, hypovolemic shock, and extreme blood loss I was medevacked to Suburban Hospital for arterial repair, then to UMMC Shock Trauma for limb salvage surgery. After 6 hours of surgery to reattach my leg, there was still not much hope that I would regain function. In 9 months I was hospitalized many times, went through intense physical therapy, used an AFO brace, tried hundreds of different medication regimens, and was still left with excruciating pain and no function return.
On March 20, 2020, I had a below-knee amputation with targeted muscle reinnervation. I am now proud to say that I am in recovery, both physically and mentally. I want to share my story for other people struggling so that they know they are not alone!
