A student with a debilitating condition is aiming to raise £10,000 to have her leg amputated and end years of pain.
Hope Gordon suffered a playground injury when she was 12 which triggered complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
Medics have told Miss Gordon, who is 21 and from Rogart in Sutherland, that she cannot have the surgery on the NHS.
But she has now found a surgeon based in Blackpool who is willing to do the operation privately.
Miss Gordon, who now lives in Stirling, first reached breaking point and asked doctors about the operation in 2011.
Since then, the pain has got steadily worse and she now has to take 30 pills a day to keep the agony at bay.
She said yesterday: “When I first asked for the operation I was 16 and in Yorkhill Children’s Hospital in Glasgow, and I knew fine well I was not going to get it done.
“But when I became an adult, I thought they would take it a bit more seriously. A lot of their reasons for not doing it are in the ethical guidelines against amputation.
“But I have now got a surgeon willing to do it. He has done the same thing in similar cases to me and has got results.
“He said I will probably have a phantom limb pain but he is pretty confident my quality of life will improve dramatically. There is potential I may be able to stand and get by on a prosthetic leg.
“The pain is unbearable. I would describe it like if you imagine the barbed wire fencing used in prisons being wrapped around my leg as it is on fire.”
Miss Gordon, who was born in the GP surgery in Golspie, went to Dornoch Academy and is now studying for an HND in health, fitness and exercise at Forth Valley College’s Falkirk campus.
Despite her battle with pain, she swims and rows for Scotland and has won medals in junior and UK school competitions.
Her parents, Rona and John Gordon, are hoping she can raise enough money for the operation.
Mrs Gordon added: “It is not any easy situation. No parent wants their child to go through what she is going through.
“We know she is still going to be facing pain after the operation but it is her quality of life she needs back.
“She cannot get to her horses because she cannot get through the grass on her leg or get on the horse herself.
“She has not been able to ride the last three years. When she comes home it should be about doing the things that she loves doing.”
To help Miss Gordon fundraise for her operation, donations will be received at
https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/hope-gordon
.