| Ilena Rose 2004-12-28, 2:08 am |
| May God bless and protect this brave, strong woman.
http://www.aimpress.com/kaceysstory.htm
Kacey Long
Kacey Long is an amazing 22 year old woman residing in Ennis, Texas (a
suburb of Dallas). What makes this young woman so remarkable is the
extraordinary effort she is making nationally to help women understand
the risks of breast implants. She should know; she became totally
disabled after getting saline implants at the young age of 19.
Kacey is the oldest of Keith and Sally Long’s eight children. She was
an athletic honor student, who graduated from St. John Catholic High
School (in Ennis) in 1999. She was fortunate enough, with her high
grade point average to be accepted at Baylor University, in Waco, TX,
and in only two short years; received a B.B.A. in Human Resource
Management. She then enrolled at Texas A&M-Commerce, to obtain her MS
in special education, and is slated to graduate in 2005, but that is
only a maybe, because of her current disability status.
At one time Kacey was top ranked athlete in softball, basketball and
volleyball. She was the epitome of health until she received her
implants. She justified the procedure by believing she was too
"bottom" heavy - "barely a B cup." Although her parents objected,
Kacey moved forward to conduct extensive research to locate a
qualified plastic surgeon. One of her friends had been working for a
leading plastic surgeon in Dallas. She highly recommended her doctor
and told Kacey how safe the implants would be. She had enhanced her
breasts with saline implants, and she had never had any problems, and
to her knowledge none of the doctor’s patients had ever complained
about an complications. After all, "they were only salt water."
Kacey met with the surgeon and asked him to make her "perfect".
Unfortunately, to the doctor, "perfect" meant going from a size B to a
D. Kacey thought the doctor knew everything; after all, her friend had
been working for him for 12 years, and just gone through the
procedure herself, without incident.
[What Kacey learned later was that many young women's breasts are not
fully developed by age 19, and some don't fully develop until mid
20's. Her breasts grew two cup sizes after explantation]
So in the summer of 2001, Kacey went through breast augmentation
surgery. Almost immediately, she began experiencing weird, shooting
arm pains. Then slowly, every joint/bone/muscle in her body was in
excruciating pain. She was exhausted all of the time, had no energy,
began experiencing hair loss, and had pains in her chest, heart, and
ribs. She suffered from short term memory loss, and could not think
clearly, which made her college work nearly impossible. Before
implants, Kacey was a healthy 19 year old, who only suffered from
allergies. Now she was near totally disabled, and spent most days
curled up under the covers in bed; in excruciating pain.
Kacey consulted numerous physicians, who all agreed that her implants
were not the cause of her deteriorating health, despite the fact that
she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing,
spondilitis (arthritis of the neck and spine), fibromyalgia, and
chronic fatigue syndrome.
Finally in the fall of 2003 she consulted with Dr. Edward P. Melmed, a
Dallas plastic surgeon. He suggested that possibly her implants were
causing her health problems. Kacey decided it was worth it to have her
implants removed, if there was any possibility of improving her
health. They were explanted in September of that year. Within a matter
of days her health began to improve.
Her explantation procedure was filmed and broadcast nationally by MTV,
and the segment was promoted on NBC Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning
America. It was the ideal forum for Kacey to shout from the rooftops,
as to the dangers young women might face with implants - and she did
just that!
Like many women, Kacey never thought implants were dangerous. What she
did not know was that her saline implants were encased in silicone,
and silicone has been found to be harmful to many people. The silicone
shell alone may be enough to cause autoimmune diseases and various
other health problems. Kacey was tested for silicone poisoning, and
the test came back positive.
Today, she feels like she will eventually get her life back, but
realizes it won’t be without a fight and a continuous struggle.
Kacey has continued to speak out, and do whatever possible to warn
other women of the potential dangers of implants. She created a web
site (www.impantsout.org) and launched a national campaign to educate
women. Like Kacey, many teenage women are getting implants, and a
growing number are receiving them as a present for a birthday or
graduation. This Christmas, many young women will receive implants as
a Christmas gift.
Since the network broadcasts in March of 2004 Kacey has become the
most outspoken and sought after media spokesperson on the dangers of
implants. She is regularly interviewed for magazine and newspaper
articles, and has appeared more than a dozen times on National
television (Kacey's media).
In January of 2005 Kacey will go on speaking tour at major colleges
across America. Though she is exhausted much of the time and still
suffers with many debilitating symptoms, she spends as many hours a
day as she can reaching out to women - fielding phone calls and
answering emails. She is regularly sought out for advice from women
who are ‘on the fence’ in their decision to obtain implants, and has
reversed many.
Kacey is a lovely, compelling and personable interview guest for any
audience.
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Kacey's Web Site I Kacey's Media Coverage I Contact Publicist
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