A Santa Clarita Valley resident Laynee LaTorre, 23, is currently battling a non-curable neurological disorder that produces chronic and intense pain that requires constant medical attention that is not covered by insurance leaving her to pay everything out of pocket. 

LaTorre is battling Complex Regional Pain Syndrome type II (CRPS), which the McGill Pain Scale ranks CRPS as one of the most painful medical condition. 

LaTorre has gone through years of surgeries and treatment but is seeking aid at the Spero Clinic in Fayetteville, Arkansas which has an 85 percent success rate.

Since insurance doesn’t cover treatment for CRPS, all the expenses are going to be out of pocket so LaTorre created a GoFundMe so she can receive treatment.

“The minimum cost for the clinic is between $35,000-$40,000,” said LaTorre in her GoFundMe.

Besides the cost of the clinic, LaTorre will also need to pay $1,700 a month for housing for the length of her program, which is expected to be a minimum of 12 to 14 weeks.

By completing this program, LaTorre hopes to end her battle with CRPS which started when she was just 16 years old.

Her journey began when she experienced an injury to her foot from practicing dance.

“The first year and a half after my accident, I was in excruciating pain, in and out of casts, boots, and splints,” said LaTorre.

Even while she had casts, boots and splints, at times she required either canes, crutches or a wheelchair to move around.

After meeting with multiple foot specialists in Southern California, she came back with no answers from any of them.

LaTorre stated in her GoFund Me that doctors would tell her a mixture of things including “We’ve never seen anything like this before” or “You’re making it all up.”

The thing that hurt LaTorre the most was one doctor telling her she will never be able to dance again.

To try to help her pain, LaTorre went through multiple unneeded procedures, some of which she was awake for and later discovered that she was supposed to have been sedated.

Due to her mistreatment by doctors, LaTorre has developed severe medical PTSD.

After being diagnosed with a possible solution and having multiple procedures done that would be of no help,  LaTorre finally found a doctor with some knowledge of her possible condition.

The only downside was that the doctor is located in Atlanta.

After getting in contact with the doctor, she scheduled a surgery date to help take pressure off her nerves.

“Just days after that initial surgery, I had noticed my entire foot had turned a dark almost black shade of purple,” said LaTorre.“The pain was unimaginable, my skin ice cold to the touch. Within hours my symptoms had spread throughout my entire left leg to my upper thigh.”

Image from Lisa Burke

She immediately contacted her doctor who told her she has developed CRPS and needed to seek medical attention as soon as possible.

From that point on it was nothing but procedures, injections, medication and being in and out of hospitals.

LaTorre described the pain as ‘being burned alive.’

Some other symptoms she felt were numbness, memory loss, loss of balance, shooting pains and a number of other symptoms.      

“Bed sheets, socks, pants, water and touch all feel like hundreds of razor blades attacking the affected area,” said LaTorre.

For the next year and a half, LaTorre would travel to ketamine clinics all over the country.

“Some, two weeks at a time for six hours a day, others leaving my body completely paralyzed in a hospital bed,” said LaTorre.

After more doctor visits, medical professionals offered LaTorre a device to trial that may help.

Willing to try anything to get better, she accepted the device and was 100 percent CRPS pain-free.

Finally, at the age of 19, almost 20, LaTorre was able to live a regular life.

She was three months away from being one-year pain-free when her foot turned purple and all the pain was back.

With the pain returning, so did all the hospital visits.

This time around LaTorre was not experiencing heart issues and was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) which is caused by a reduced blood volume that occurs when standing up.

“This is my last hope at living a pain-free and normal life again,” said LaTorre of her possible treatment in Fayetteville.

Throughout her journey, LaTorre became an advocate for those with CRPS, by educating people on her social media about the syndrome.

For anyone that wishes to donate the GoFundMe can be found here.

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