TWO years after Ballarat woman Narelle Lindrea had her hip replaced, she got the news no patient should ever have to receive. “I was calling the doctor to find out why my body hadn’t recovered and why I was feeling so unwell, and they told me the replacement hip had been recalled. “I was stunned and all I could say to her was ‘It’s not just like a can of baked beans’.”Lindrea, 42, is one of an estimated 93,000 people worldwide to have been given an ASR-model artificial hip implant produced by a subsidiary of health multinational Johnson and Johnson. It is thought that as many as 5000 Australians, and 200 Ballarat residents, were given the now-recalled products, which need to be replaced. Born with dislocated hips, Ms Lindrea suffered for much of her life, and like other patients expected her quality of life would improve after the replacement. “My surgeon Paul Plank was like a saint. He looked after me during the whole process and was so attentive to my needs – but for some reason my body could not recover.”Doctors were unable to work out why Ms Lindrea’s medical tests showed extreme levels of chemicals. She was constantly exhausted and was losing some of her hair. When the news of the recall reached Ms Lindrea, she finally found answers. A Johnson and Johnson spokesperson said the replacement hips had met regulatory requirements in Australia and were subject to laboratory testing. The company is currently paying all costs associated with the problem, but is facing class-action law-suits in Australia and the United States. Forced to cut back on her work just two weeks after she received her second replacement hip, she is struggling to pay her rent. “I am not disabled enough to qualify for some Centerlink benefits so I have to live on $597 a fortnight,” she said. Ms Lindrea hopes to be completely recovered within two years and while she is part of a class action case being run by law firm Morris Blackburn, she just wants to get back to work. “I’m too young to live like this – I need to come back to life soon,” she said.