{"id":1152224,"date":"2026-08-16T18:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T18:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1152224\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T18:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T18:03:32","slug":"i-went-from-having-eczema-to-being-told-told-one-day-my-legs-will-be-amputated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1152224\/","title":{"rendered":"I went from having eczema to being told told one day my legs will be amputated"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said they are “committed to providing high quality care for all our patients and their families”Gary Stewart<\/strong><\/a> Weekend editor and Rachael Davis PA Assistant Lifestyle Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

04:00, 16 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Phoebe Phillips<\/p>\n

A young woman faces the prospect of losing both of her legs and says that even being an amputee will be better than what she is currently going through. Phoebe Phillips, 29, says that since she was diagnosed with psoriatic seronegative inflammatory oligoarthritis in 2019, her knees have completely lost all of their cartilage, making walking extraordinarily challenging.<\/p>\n

Phoebe, from Chester<\/a>, says that while various treatments have been offered over the years, they have only addressed the symptoms rather than the underlying cause, resulting in pain “so severe that my GP had to prescribe tramadol and liquid morphine just so I could survive the days”.<\/p>\n

Her disease has now reached such an advanced stage that medical professionals have advised a double knee replacement as the sole option, a procedure she’ll need to undergo repeatedly throughout her lifetime before potentially facing a double amputation above the knee.<\/p>\n

Having felt repeatedly “dismissed” by medical practitioners, she’s now raising funds to access private healthcare, with the double knee replacement surgery expected to cost in excess of \u00a315,000.<\/p>\n

“I’ve missed out on my entire adulthood so far,” Phoebe, who is currently single and out of work, said. “It’s really the small things that are so much more important to me. Just to be able to go up and down a couple of stairs like a normal person… Standing in the shower and not having to sit down \u2013 all the small stuff.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Phoebe Phillips who is facing the prospect of a double knee replacement and potential double leg amputation<\/p>\n

“I can’t even sleep in a normal bed, I have a rail next to the toilet, and all those kinds of things that I just shouldn’t have to be dealing with, if I’d have been taken more seriously sooner or listened to.”<\/p>\n

Phoebe’s ordeal began in October 2018, when she was 21, and she described how “it really just happened from one day to the next”.<\/p>\n

“My right knee basically just blew up overnight… It was the same width as my thigh, and it felt really numb. Over the next couple of days, I just thought, maybe I’ve tripped, I’ve hurt it, and I just don’t remember. I iced it and elevated it and did all the things that you should do.”<\/p>\n

Within days, Phoebe noticed her knee was “just getting worse” \u2013 she was unable to bear weight on it, and the pain intensified.<\/p>\n

Upon visiting her GP, she claims her concerns were initially “dismissed”, with the doctor suggesting she may have been “out dancing and tripped in your high heels, and you don’t remember”.<\/p>\n

“I was like, ‘Well, I don’t drink, I’ve been sober for years, but okay!’,” Phoebe recalled.<\/p>\n

Four months on, Phoebe was referred to a rheumatology consultant at the Countess of Chester Hospital, where she received a diagnosis of psoriatic seronegative inflammatory oligoarthritis in March 2019. According to the NHS, psoriatic arthritis can emerge in individuals who have the skin complaint psoriasis, most frequently impacting the knees, hands, feet, elbows, neck and spine.<\/p>\n

Phoebe revealed that numerous women in her family had experienced psoriasis, and she herself had previously battled skin complaints such as eczema.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Phoebe was told when her knee first ‘blew up’ she must have tripped over her high heels<\/p>\n

“At that very first appointment, I got both of my knees drained, which was very scary \u2013 they come out with the massive thick needle and stick that right into the middle of your knee,” Phoebe said.<\/p>\n

“From then, I was basically just told: ‘This is something that can be controlled very well, we have a lot of medications for it, and we can start you on the first one straight away’.”<\/p>\n

Phoebe explained she was informed that draining the inflammatory fluid from her knees ought to ease the discomfort, and she commenced treatment with methotrexate, an immunosuppressant prescribed for arthritis and psoriasis amongst other ailments.<\/p>\n

“The first few times I’d taken it, it just made me so violently ill,” Phoebe said.<\/p>\n

“I couldn’t keep food down for days on end. And after I think about three months, I called them up and said, ‘Listen, this isn’t doing anything. I’m still having the exact same symptoms’.”<\/p>\n

Subsequently, Phoebe was also prescribed sulfasalazine, an anti-inflammatory drug, but reported experiencing chest tightness, leading to medical advice to discontinue its use. Since then, she has experimented with various treatments, including JAK inhibitors and biologic immunosuppressants, yet revealed that “I was just never really told what the forecast was”.<\/p>\n

“Any time I would try and ask about it, I was told: ‘Well, it’s different with everyone. It’s not really something that we can predict’.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Phoebe in hospital<\/p>\n

“And obviously, being in the situation that I’m in now, I know that actually there are several things that they can 100% determine will happen at some point in the future, they just can’t tell you when. Which is unfortunately not what I was told.”<\/p>\n

Throughout the years, Phoebe explained that her condition has “progressed massively”. While her knees remain the most severely affected, she noted that “it’s in my sacroiliac hip joint, in my elbows, wrists, and hands \u2013 it’s basically pretty much everywhere now”.<\/p>\n

Phoebe is currently on medication that appears to be “somewhat keeping it under control”, however, in April 2026, an X-ray confirmed that “I have no cartilage left whatsoever in my knees.<\/p>\n

“Although I was medicated, it wasn’t actually treating the disease for so long. So because of that, that’s why it’s worn down so much,” Phoebe explained, adding that her legs are now permanently angled and restricted in movement due to the cartilage deterioration.<\/p>\n

“But no one had ever discussed with me that that would even be something I’d have to worry about.<\/p>\n

“I asked my doctors for years, can you please just look into it? I can feel that it won’t move, and it’s not for my lack of trying. I can feel there’s something in there,” she added.<\/p>\n

“I asked for scans over and over again. I was just told: ‘No, this is just what the disease does, it’s probably just swollen’. Even when I asked to speak to an orthopaedic (consultant), I was told point blank that no one’s going to look at it because you have active disease inflammation, so we won’t refer you.<\/p>\n

“So then, obviously, it’s taken years and years to get to that point when I finally got referred.”<\/p>\n

Phoebe has since been informed that a double knee replacement is her sole option for restoring full movement to her knee joints.<\/p>\n

She revealed that the replacement joints will inevitably deteriorate, requiring the procedure to be repeated every 10 years. Furthermore, she has been warned that progressive bone loss resulting from repeated surgeries will ultimately leave an above-the-knee double amputation as the only remaining course of action.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Phoebe says she is prepared to accept those risks.<\/p>\n

“I’ve missed out on my entire adulthood so far, and I understand that that means that maybe in 10 years, maybe 20 years’ time, that I would be an amputee,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

‘I’ve missed out on my entire adulthood so far,’ Phoebe said. <\/p>\n

“But arguably, in my book, being an amputee would actually be better than what I’ve been dealing with, so I’m okay with that.”<\/p>\n

Phoebe described the disease as having “pretty much taken over” her life. “I just feel like there’s so many things that I would have wanted to do in my life, and now I can’t,” she said.<\/p>\n

“And the frustrating thing is, it’s not just down to the disease, but it’s how it’s been treated and how it’s been managed, which is such a big problem for me.”<\/p>\n

She explained she’s explored alternative therapies including osteopathy, physiotherapy and red light therapy, “but the issue is just that the medication that I was on was not controlling the disease well enough. So none of the things that I was doing was ever going to be good enough.”<\/p>\n

Through her own investigation, Phoebe’s aware of one final option before knee replacement: an injectable treatment called arthrosamid, specifically developed for knee osteoarthritis. She’s been informed, however, that given her cartilage has completely worn away, “the likelihood of it working is quite slim”.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Phoebe maintains it’s “worth trying before jumping into a major surgery”.<\/p>\n

Phoebe admitted she’s now lost confidence in her NHS specialists given how advanced the condition has become, believing it was preventable.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An X-ray of Phoebe’s knee<\/p>\n

Consequently, she’s considering private healthcare, stating “my concerns just haven’t been heard for years”, hoping the private sector might offer quicker access and opportunities to investigate alternative joint-preserving options. She estimates the cost of a private double knee replacement will range between \u00a312,000 and \u00a316,000, prompting her to establish a GoFundMe campaign<\/a> to kickstart the procedure.<\/p>\n

Phoebe has set an initial fundraising target of \u00a36,000, which she believes would enable her to trial the arthrosamid treatment and arrange preliminary consultations to identify the most suitable surgeon for her needs.<\/p>\n

After losing significant years of her youth, Phoebe \u2013 who documents her chronic illness journey on TikTok<\/a> @only_pheebs \u2013 explained: “I want my life back.<\/p>\n

“I want to stand up straight again. I lost my entire 20s to this disease, trapped in my house when friends and peers were out living, I couldn’t often join them.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Over the years, Phoebe said her condition has ‘progressed massively.’ <\/p>\n

“I would love to be able to live a bit again, enjoy my 30s, maybe.”<\/p>\n

A Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing high quality care for all our patients and their families. Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases, if patients or their families have any concerns regarding the care they receive, we would advise them to contact our PALS team on 01244 366066, or email cochpals@nhs.net who will be able to support them.”<\/p>\n

Phoebe’s Gofundme<\/a> campaign is live now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said they are “committed to providing high quality care…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1152225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[758,105,4348,16,15],"class_list":["post-1152224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-chester","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117106510876163319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1152224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1152224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1152225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1152224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1152224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1152224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}