Jamila Coleman was 18 when her leg started swelling and never stopped.
She has lymphedema-distichiasis syndrome, caused by a mutation in the FOXC gene. Her mother, Geraldine, had a milder form. For four years, Jamila couldn’t get out of bed: her mother and younger sister cared for her as her leg grew to a meter wide. Her health insurance refused to cover the operation, and the family had no way to pay for it. A 48-centimeter wound even developed, and a bacterial infection became so serious that she was told she would have died if she had waited much longer.
Help came from Carmen Johnson, the ambulance driver who took her to the hospital. She became Jamila’s friend and launched a crowdfunding campaign. After a 12-hour surgery, 63 kilos of tissue and fluid were removed. Today, Jamila is learning to walk again and celebrating the simple things: going to the bathroom, washing her hair, and raising a glass with her first margarita. Her mother died just a month after the operation. “I’d undergo surgery eight times over to be where I am now”, she says.
