Phoebe Phillips, 29, from Chester, says she faces the prospect of losing both of her legs and that even being an amputee would be better than what she is currently going through. Since being diagnosed with psoriatic seronegative inflammatory oligoarthritis in 2019, her knees have completely lost all of their cartilage, making walking extraordinarily challenging.
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 will need to undergo repeatedly throughout her lifetime before potentially facing a double amputation above the knee. Having felt repeatedly "dismissed" by medical practitioners, she is now raising funds to access private healthcare, with the double knee replacement surgery expected to cost in excess of £15,000.
Pain 'so severe' she needed morphine
Phoebe 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".
"I've missed out on my entire adulthood so far," she 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 – all the small stuff."
From a swollen knee to a life-changing diagnosis
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". "My right knee basically just blew up overnight... It was the same width as my thigh, and it felt really numb." Within days, her knee was "just getting worse" – she was unable to bear weight on it, and the pain intensified.
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". Four months on, she 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.
Treatments that didn't work
Phoebe commenced treatment with methotrexate, an immunosuppressant, but said "the first few times I'd taken it, it just made me so violently ill". She was also prescribed sulfasalazine, but reported chest tightness and was advised 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".
Throughout the years, 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 – it's basically pretty much everywhere now". In April 2026, an X-ray confirmed that "I have no cartilage left whatsoever in my knees".
Fundraising for private care
Phoebe has been informed that a double knee replacement is her sole option for restoring full movement to her knee joints. She revealed that the replacement joints will inevitably deteriorate, requiring the procedure to be repeated every 10 years, and that progressive bone loss will ultimately leave an above-the-knee double amputation as the only remaining course of action.
Nevertheless, Phoebe says she is prepared to accept those risks. "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." She has set an initial fundraising target of £6,000, which she believes would enable her to trial an injectable treatment called arthrosamid and arrange preliminary consultations to identify the most suitable surgeon for her needs.
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." Phoebe's GoFundMe campaign is live now.
