Frostbite occurs after ­exposure to extreme cold, when the blood flow to the exposed area stops and the affected area of skin becomes frozen.

Is it serious?

Yes, and it should be treated as an emergency, but there’s a first-aid routine you should carry out immediately. If treated quickly, frostbite has no lasting effect, but severe cases can lead to gangrene and ­eventually amputation.

What should I do first?

Get the person out of the cold immediately and ask ­someone else to call for medical help.

Don’t apply direct heat or rub the affected part. If toes or fingers are frostbitten, immerse them in warm water and add more to keep the ­temperature constant. If you have no warm water, put the ­person’s hands or feet under your ­armpits, or hold their ­face against ­your body.

Wrap the person in ­blankets and give them hot drinks. Don’t let them walk on a frostbitten foot.

When the affected part becomes pink, stop warming it and wrap in ­anything that will keep in the heat. Go to the ­nearest ­casualty department.

While you’re travelling to the hospital raise their feet or put their hands across their chest to keep the blood flowing.

How to recognise Frostbite from the BootsWebMD:

The signs and symptoms of frostbite vary depending on the extent of injury caused by the cold. Frostbite is usually described as either superficial or deep:

Superficial frostbite

During the early stages of frostbite, you will have pins and needles, throbbing, or aching in the affected area. The skin will become cold, numb and white, and you may feel a tingling sensation. This stage of frostbite is also known as frostnip and is common in people who live or work in cold climates. The extremities, such as the fingers, face (nose and ears), and toes, are most commonly affected.

After these early signs, prolonged exposure to cold temperatures will cause more tissue damage and the affected area will feel hard and frozen. When you are out of the cold and the tissue is thawed out, the skin will turn red and blister, which can be painful. There may also be swelling and itching.

This is known as superficial frostbite because it affects the top layers of skin and tissue. The skin underneath the blisters is usually still intact but medical treatment is needed to make sure no lasting damage occurs.

Deep frostbite

When exposure to the cold continues, frostbite becomes increasingly severe. The skin becomes white, blue or blotchy and the tissue underneath feels hard and cold to touch.  There may be further damage to tendons, muscles, nerves and bones beneath the skin.

Deep frostbite requires urgent medical attention.

As the skin thaws, blood filled blisters form that turn into thick black scabs. At this stage it is likely that some tissue has died, this is known as gangrene and may have to be amputated (cut off) to prevent infection.

Some people experience long-term symptoms after recovering from frostbite, this can include loss of feeling in the affected area and an increased sensitivity to the cold.

The gift of donated human tissue meant that Susan Cossabone was able to avoid leg amputation and return to her passion of horseback riding following a devastating accident.

Cossabone will join 27 other float riders from around the country Jan. 2 on the Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade. The float, now in its ninth year, is a tribute to the millions of people touched by organ, tissue and blood donation.

Cossabone, of New Jersey, always had a gift with horses and a passion for riding. To fulfill that passion, she owned a 10-acre ranch, Hidden View Farm, with 26 horses. Not only did she ride for hours a day, Cossabone also rode competitively, helped retrain difficult horses, and set up an equine summer camp for at-risk and mentally and physically disabled children. Her passion kept her motivated as she managed most of the ranch alone.

This all changed on a snowy day in 2009. Driving home from dropping off a friend, a car slid out of its lane and struck Cossabone’s vehicle head on. Witnesses called 911. Due to winter weather the emergency response was slow and Cossabone’s injuries were grave: on her right leg her kneecap was ripped off, both her tibia and fibula were fractured and her foot was dislocated.

Once at the hospital, Cossabone’s leg was saved with surgically implanted titanium rods. “I hoped I would be able to walk again,” she says.

Despite this hope, Cossabone was told that she could never ride again. As a result of her injury, she had to greatly reduce the number of horses she owned, from 26 to 10. Her summer camp was unable to continue, but the remaining horses were taken care of thanks to generous help from previous campers.

In a heartbreaking development, her injury then became worse; the metal rods in her leg broke and the doctors began to talk about amputation. Cossabone refused to accept that option, but nearly every doctor she saw told her the same thing. She could not walk at all by this point, and spent all of her time in a wheelchair.

Desperate to avoid amputation, she found Dr. Mark Myerson through an Internet search. Describing her initial conversation with Myerson, Cossabone says, “He was the only doctor who did not talk only about amputation. He promised me nothing except his help.” Cossabone did not have the option of a traditional ankle replacement because when the rods in her leg broke, the screws had become imbedded in her ankle, causing even more damage.

In April of 2010, Cossabone began the first of several surgeries with Myerson that would attempt to repair her leg. First her entire ankle was removed and bone cement was added to take the place of missing bone. In the second surgery, Dr. Myerson added bone grafts to the ankle, and in a third surgery he added AlloStem Stem Cell Bone Growth Substitute in an attempt to jumpstart her own body’s reproduction of bone in the injured leg. AlloStem, made by tissue bank AlloSource, uses adult mesenchymal stem cells derived from fat tissue, as well as bone from deceased tissue donors, which helps to stimulate natural bone formation. Cossabone calls AlloStem a “miracle little thing.” Myerson says there were no guarantees that AlloStem would work to regrow the bone in her leg, but by December, bone began to populate in small amounts.

Cossabone was told in January 2011 that her leg no longer risked amputation. Since then, significant bone growth has continued in her injured leg. By spring 2011, Susan was able to have her knee cap replaced and she realized her initial goal, she walked again. In the fall 2011 she triumphantly reached another milestone, she returned to her passion of horseback riding.

“The trip to Dr. Myerson’s office is a five-hour round trip – with no traffic. But I don’t care. I am going to go for two, three, even four opinions before losing a limb,” Cossabone says. 

By SIMON TOMLINSON

The Row2Recovery crew photographed before their departure from La Gomera this morning (5/12/11)

A group of British servicemen, including four amputees, will tomorrow embark on a gruelling challenge to row the Atlantic.

The six-man team – of whom four lost limbs during service in Iraq or Afghanistan – will leave La Gomera in the Canary Islands tomorrow heading for Barbados.

The journey of around 3,000 miles, hoped to take 40-50 days, will see them spend Christmas and several of their birthdays on the high seas.

The team will row ‘self-supported’, so must take no support or accept any items on board as soon as they leave the starting port.

They will have to alternate between hours of rowing and two-hour rest spells in the cabin of the specially-tailored boat, dealing with anything from torrential rain to gale force winds and bright sunshine.

Dubbed Row2Recovery, the challenge is the brainchild of three former British Army commanders who trained together at Sandhurst and also served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ed Janvrin, Alex Mackenzie and Tony Harris saw friends and comrades suffer life-changing injuries, while Mr Harris lost his left leg when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) detonated under his vehicle in Afghanistan in May 2009.

Able-bodied ex-captains Janvrin and Mackenzie, 32 and 33, will join four injured servicemen on the challenge.

Lieutenant Will Dixon, 27, was a platoon commander with Third Battalion, The Rifles, when he stepped on an IED in Sangin, Afghanistan, 10 days before Christmas 2009. Surgeons at Camp Bastion performed a below-knee amputation on his left leg.

Corporal Neil Heritage, 31, was a member of the Royal Signals bomb disposal team in Iraq when a suicide bomber detonated a device a few feet away in November 2004, when his wife was six weeks pregnant with their second child. He needed double above-knee amputation and doctors initially predicted he would never walk again but he is now a school athletics coach.

They will be joined by Corporal Rory Mackenzie, 30, a medic who was on a routine patrol in Basra City in January 2007 when he was blown up by a roadside bomb which traumatically amputated his right leg. He now works as an instructor at Keogh Barracks, teaching fellow medics.

Lance Corporal Carl Anstey, 26, is also taking part in the challenge – a member of First Battalion, the Rifles, he was hit by the blast from a rocket-propelled grenade in Musa Qala, Afghanistan, in January 2009, the day after his 24th birthday. The damage from shrapnel shattered his femur and severed his sciatic nerve and surgery left his right leg almost two inches shorter than the left and he needs a leg brace to walk.

The group has already raised £601,000 – and at the end of the challenge the total cash raised will be distributed between three key military charities: Help for Heroes, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) and ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity.

After months of preparation, they are ready to leave tomorrow, said Row2Recovery spokesman Sam Peters.

Speaking from La Gomera today, he said: ‘It’s just a case of sorting out the final details really, making sure everything’s packed and all the food’s there and the safety equipment, and all the communications equipment.

‘We think it will take between 40 and 50 days. They are ready to go, I think they are all really just desperate to get going.

‘Some of the guys have been building up to this for well over a year. The training has been done, the eating has been done, they have been eating pizza and beer – they need to put on some weight, they’re expected to lose up to 25% of their body weight. Some of them will come back looking pretty thin.

‘There’s a great team spirit and they have really really bonded together, they are a really, really impressive bunch of guys.’

The six-man team are expected to leave La Gomera tomorrow at 12.30pm – there is currently no time difference.

Details on the challenge will be posted on its website on www.row2recovery.com

****************************************************************

* All at The Douglas Bader Foundation wish Row@Recovery the best of luck with this inspirational challenge and the success that your courage and determination deserves. We know that Sir Douglas would approve wholeheartedly and be with you in spirit all the way. *

* We will be following the team’s progress on their journey to Barbados, so please keep checking in for updates *

Mahran Agil, 30, used to work in a perfume shop. In his spare time, he loved buying, breeding and selling pigeons.

Then the uprising against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi began and he was catapulted into a bloody civil war.

“Gaddafi was killing the people of my country. I had to fight for them,” he says, sitting in a wheelchair in a large light rehabilitation room at Charing Cross Hospital in west London.

Soon he was fighting alongside friends and strangers in the battle for Tripoli, armed with a double-barrelled hunting rifle.

On 20 August, the day the capital fell to rebel forces, he was shot three times in his legs. One bullet exploded in his lower right leg, shattering the bones.

“In the first five minutes I felt nothing. After that I fell down,” he says.

He was taken to to a field hospital where he was given nothing but a cast and some painkillers.

Then at a military hospital, steel work was fitted to his lower leg before he was moved to Tunisia and then to Britain, after the UK government agreed to provide up to 50 places at specialist hospitals for Libyans needing surgery, prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation.

The request came from the new Libyan government, which is also footing the bill.

But by the time he arrived in Britain, the surgeons thought it was too late to save his lower leg.

“He’d had a severe injury to the bones to the leg but he’d also lost a lot of soft tissues all the way down to and including his ankle joint,” says plastic surgeon Professor Jagdeep Nanchahal of Imperial College Healthcare Trust.

“It was also clear he had deep infection because you could smell the bacteria.”

An amputation was recommended.

“He was disappointed,” says Professor Nanchahal. “He had come to us expecting reconstruction and had gone though multiple surgeries in other countries with that view, so it took him a little while to get his head around that.”

‘V’ sign

On 20 October, the day Colonel Gaddafi was captured and killed, Mahran’s lower right leg was amputated.

An X-ray showing the broken bones in Mahran Agil's leg before amputation

All infected tissue was removed and the bones were amputated at a point where they could provide a good lever for a new prosthetic leg and allow ample room for the prosthesis.

Muscle and tissue was then wrapped over the stump to provide ample padding.

“Once he made the decision that he was going to have an amputation it’s all gone swimmingly well,” says Professor Nanchahal.

“In just over a week he was in a gym doing upper body work, he was on a prosthesis within a couple of weeks and now he’s about four weeks after the procedure and he’s actually walking pretty well.

“Mahran’s been extraordinary because as other Libyans have come to this centre he’s engaged with them and cheered them up.

“A lot of them are pretty unhappy. They’re in a foreign country, they don’t understand the language. These are fit young people who suddenly feel that their lives have been taken away from them.”

Mahran himself appears a little uncomfortable with the attention. But he is keen to stress he has no regrets.

“When I left home and I went to fight I was expecting even to die, so all options were there,” he says. “This is a fate and destiny I received from God, so I’ve accepted this.”

The interview over, he raises his hand to make a “V” sign, then asks to be filmed with the nursing and medical staff who are helping him through his recovery.

A long distance runner who spent more than two days in freezing winter temperatures without winter gear has had his feet amputated just above the ankles.

Marko Cheseto, 28, is one of several Kenyan runners who competed for the University of Alaska Anchorage in cross-country and track. The amputations were reported on Monday on the UAA Athletic Department website.

Cheseto was seen at about 7pm in a UAA building on Nov 6, a Sunday night, as two snow storms started to blanket the city. His room-mates reported him missing the next morning. The disappearance prompted a citywide search.

Cheseto was found early the following Wednesday outside a hotel near the campus. He was wearing athletic shoes, a jacket and blue jeans but no hat or gloves. He was suffering from hypothermia and severe frostbite on his feet and hands.

Missing poster for Marko Cheseto posted at the University of Alaska Anchorage in Anchorage, Alaska. Photo: AP

Evan Ruggiero

Two years after his diagnosis and a year after his amputation, Ruggiero is in remission, cancer-free and ready to share his story. “I initially made the video for myself. The night it was made I took about 10 videos of myself tapping to track my progress. I came back to my apartment and showed my roommate and she said, ‘This is going on YouTube right now!’” Within 12 hours,  Ruggiero had started receiving messages from fans all over the world. Yesterday, musical theater producer Jason Robert Brown even sent him a message on Twitter: “@EvanRuggiero Kick ass, dude!”
Ruggiero says his friends and roommates at MSU supported him through the terrible diagnosis. “I remember my roommates taking care of me a week before the biopsy, making sure my leg was always propped up. When the diagnosis came back as cancer I immediately withdrew from my classes, being I was in for a lot of treatment. The initial reaction of students, from what I heard of, was shock. Some of them cried, some of them didn’t know what to say, but all of them stood by my side and supported me.”
Throughout his treatment, Ruggiero continued to aspire to a theater career. “I did have the same dream of one day becoming a Broadway actor, but as my diagnosis became more and more life- threatening, and my leg having to be amputated and then starting chemotherapy, I thought ‘How could this happen? Why do I need to be going through this?’”
The Old Bridge native spent his 20th birthday in the hospital receiving 12 hours of chemotherapy.
When Ruggiero found out that he would have his leg amputated, he began to research dancers with disabilities, and discovered Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates, an African American tap dancer who lost a leg in a cotton mill accident at the age of 12, performed 58 times on the Ed Sullivan Show and died in 1998. “When I knew that my leg would have to be amputated,” says Ruggiero, “I knew I would recreate and pass on this skill.”
Although Ruggiero says it’s not easy to tap dance with one leg, he continues to re-teach himself the all the basic steps in order to continue tapping. He will also be starring in Montclair State University’s production of “Rags,” which will run Dec. 7-14 at the L. Howard Fox Studio Theater.

* Please click HERE to see the You Tube Video *

From participating in the U.S. Paralympic Ski Team to writing a best-selling memoir, Josh Sundquist hasn’t let the amputation of his left leg define his life.

At the age of 9, Sundquist was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, which caused the need for an amputation. While doctors predicted he had a 50-50 chance of survival, Sundquist battled the disease and has used his triumph in the face of adversity as fodder for inspirational talks around the country — such as last night’s lecture “Laughing At Our Differences,” which was sponsored by Student Entertainment Events.

“In life, you set out to do something … and all of a sudden, there’s a bull standing 20 feet away from you,” Sundquist said. “I don’t know what a bull is like for you, but I know that life is tough.”

As the author of Just Don’t Fall, the founder of a social networking site for amputees called LessThanFour.org and a member of the 2006 U.S. Paralympic Ski Team, Sundquist told the dozens of attendees in Hoff Theater that he doesn’t let the loss of his leg get him down.

Josh Sundquist at the Hoff Theatre talking about overcoming adversity following the amputation of his left leg when he was 9. Photo by Jeremy Kim

“In my speeches, I tell stories about my experiences about having one leg and the things I’ve learned along the way,” he said. “My message is about overcoming adversity, and adversity is something that everyone has to deal with as a college student.”

He said he uses his experience to show others that obstacles can be overcome — usually through laughter.

Sundquist said he tries to make his audience laugh as he details various life experiences.

Last night, he recounted a time when his prosthetic malfunctioned — right in the middle of a first date. Instead of letting the incident ruin his outing, he said he made light of the situation, which is a philosophy he extends to the rest of his life.

“I thought, this is my first date, and you only get one first date, so why would I let it be ruined?” he said. “So what did I do? I got up, laughed about it and played that next hole of golf.”

From smuggling a two-liter bottle of soda into a movie theater by dangling it in his left pant leg to running away from a bull in the middle of a field in a failed attempt at cow tipping, several students — such as junior communication major Rebecca Railey — said Sundquist’s humor came full-circle to inspire his audience.

“He incorporated comedy,” Railey said. “If it was serious, it wouldn’t have been as good.”

Sundquist ended the evening by saying he’d found his ‘sole’-mate — a man with the same shoe size and sneaker taste who lost his right leg. The two share their pairs of shoes.

Some students said it was stories such as this one that captivated the audience.

“It was awesome — really highly energized, positive,” said senior environmental science and technology Leaton Jones. “Everyone was interested in hearing what he had to say. I liked how he combined comedy with inspiration to keep the energy up.”

Moffitt Cancer Center surgeon Doug Letson has an enemy.

It’s the number 448.

That’s how many American children learn they have bone cancer each year, then face painful treatments, the risk of limb amputation and possible death.

It doesn’t matter that those children account for just 4 percent of the 11,210 annual pediatric cancer cases added each year or that they’re just a blip in the nearly 1.6 million new cancer cases that will be diagnosed in 2011.

Letson is drawn to them, especially the youngest patients, the ones the medical establishment usually says should have a cancerous arm or leg amputated instead of trying to save it.

Though endoprosthesis surgery — inserting a prosthetic under the skin — regularly is used to salvage the limbs of adult bone-cancer patients, the prevailing wisdom is that the risks are too great for a growing child.

“If you’re 16 we can save your leg, and if you’re 14 we’ve got to cut it off,” Letson said of the established standards. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Letson and Moffitt’s Sarcoma Program are openly challenging that position. In the past 18 years, they have implanted expandable chrome and titanium prosthetics into 50 young cancer patients.

It’s unpopular, difficult and expensive, but Letson said it leaves kids with little more than a scar to remember their cancer.

“We want to not only cure them of their cancer but make them more functional,” he said of the procedure, which he does in cooperation with All Children’s Hospital or Shriner’s Hospital for Children — Tampa. “We’re forgetting about the most important population we have: these children. Why can’t we do this in these children?”

The team’s first mission is helping a child survive. But like medical professionals in other rare, high-risk and high-cost fields, they push financial and scientific boundaries to offer children a normal life.

* * * * *

Children such as Katie Karp, who competed in a school track meet the day before a searing pain started shooting through her leg. The 12-year-old Windermere girl thought it was a sprain.

Instead, an MRI found a tumor on her thigh bone. Within days, Katie was undergoing chemotherapy and was scheduled to have her thigh bone replaced with an experimental limb created in the United Kingdom.

That was 10 months ago. Letson implanted the prosthesis, an expandable bone designed to grow with a powerful magnet that pulls and twists the limb, eliminating the need for repeated surgeries.

Now 13, Katie is matter-of-fact about the monthly sessions that lengthen her leg about 1 centimeter at a time.

Katie Karp, 13, had her left knee and thigh bone replaced with a prosthesis that can be adjusted as she grows. Photo: Kate Caldwell

“So this is really cool because it’s painless,” she said. “You might be a little sore afterward because it’s like growing pains, but I never have them.”

Katie and her mother know that without the experimental surgery, activities such as horseback riding would be impossible. They’re also grateful they found the alternative treatment; they have watched two friends lose limbs to osteosarcoma in the past few months.

“Every child deserves to have as many options as possible,” Leslie Karp said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this summer approved the femur salvage procedure, which Letson said can cost $20,000 to $30,000 per child. It took 15 years, but the approval is a significant step in persuading the medical community to change its standards, he said.

* * * * *

The operating room sometimes is the first place Letson meets a patient. But relationships grow, as do the children he treats. He has danced at weddings and attended graduations of patients who were as young as 4 when he operated on them.

He has also said goodbye. The five-year survival rate of children with osteosarcoma and a similar condition called Ewing’s sarcoma is 65 percent to 70 percent, the American Cancer Society reports. Children with amputated limbs or an endoprosthesis face almost identical odds of survival.

But health care decisions regularly rely on hard numbers, not heartwarming stories, and a prosthesis is expensive.

Insurance company officials, whom Letson said traditionally look for front-end savings, can be reluctant to endorse an expensive prosthetic that doesn’t have a lifetime warranty.

“They’re like tires on your car,” Letson said of the devices. “Kids wear them out. They break them, just like anything else.”

So he has fought the critics with data. He and other advocates published studies calculating the long-term costs of expandable limbs.

They projected a patient’s need for replacements and care up to age 60, and found amputation ends up costing insurance companies more.

* * * * *

Nine months ago, Josalyn Kaldenberg went from being the best rope climber in Woodward, Iowa, to pediatric cancer patient. Osteosarcoma had invaded her right upper arm, and doctors believed amputation was the 8-year-old’s best chance for survival.

Her mother, Heidi Kaldenberg, scoured the Internet for alternatives. Upper-arm prosthetics had been created for children in the United Kingdom, but not for those in the United States. Then she found Letson’s name and saw that he had done similar experimental procedures. She shared what she learned with her daughter’s oncologist.

Five days before the scheduled amputation, Letson said he would be able to do the surgery. Josalyn traveled 1,400 miles to undergo the surgery at Tampa’s Shriner’s Hospital. It was the first time an American surgeon replaced a child’s entire upper-arm bone with the expandable prosthesis.

Josalyn is back in Iowa, using her right arm to decorate coloring books with her brothers and sisters. Her final chemotherapy treatment is scheduled for next week.Her mother said instinct led her to look for alternatives to amputation, but it took medical professionals willing to wade through bureaucratic logistics to make the pioneering procedure a reality.

“It’s the difference of life and death for Josalyn,” Kaldenberg said. “In her case … she might not have an arm right now had they not gone and fought through the red tape.”

* * * * *

The financial and scientific battles pediatric bone cancer advocates face is one tiny conflict in the nation’s gargantuan health care system. But it’s an example of the challenges doctors and patients will encounter in a future demanding dramatic cuts and changes to medical care.

Letson worries about a business and economic environment caught up in making sure medical care returns the “biggest bang for the buck.” When you’re talking with a patient, the only return on investment that matters is a person’s life, he said.

“We have to figure out ways to reduce this surging medical cost, but where?” he asked. “It shouldn’t be on the patient care side. We have to find new and better ways to reduce costs.”

Pediatric patients are not the ones most at risk in the political battles, Letson said. He also can see the establishment questioning the financial value of endoprosthetics in older patients. Treatment decisions should be made using evidence, not speculation, he said.

Once a week at Moffitt, Letson conducts rounds with medical students pursuing surgery. They review a group of cases, and he challenges the students to think smarter than those who performed the procedure.

Letson says he has a similar internal inquiry each time he sees one of the children he has operated on in the past 18 years. How much is he limping? How big is her scar?

He’s never satisfied with the answers. And he hopes he’s not the only one who feels that way.

“We’ve got a long ways to go,” he said. “We can do a lot better.”

Adam Starr - An inspiration

MANKATO — From a young age, Adam Starr was always the kid you immediately liked and wanted your own kid to be around.

As a state-placing diver at Mankato West High School in 2007-08, Starr showed his poise and acrobatic skills, along with an infectious smile, optimism and humility.

It’s a personality that’s served him well through the travails of a rare cancer diagnosis, the amputation of his leg and chemotherapy.

And it’s a personality that’s helped make him a viral sensation. In the past few weeks, a half-million people have watched a YouTube video he posted of his first time back in the gym doing backflips and other gymnastics.

Starr, a St. Olaf college student who is applying to medical schools, had done gymnastics from age 3 to 15, until taking up diving.

As he recovered from his surgery, he began training and regaining strength.

“I’d been bouncing on one leg, doing weight training pretty much every day and riding bike. I decided to go to a gymnastics place and see if I might be strong enough to do a back flip again.”

With friends video taping, Starr first spins around on a tub with his prosthetic limb attached. Then with the prosthetic leg discarded. he heads to a trampoline flipping forward and backward and landing on one foot.

“It felt great because gymnastics and acrobatics were a big part of my life.”

He posted the video on his Facebook page. “I just wanted to share with my family and friends and my swim and gymnastics friends to show that I was able to do it.”

The video soon went viral online and Starr’s story has been picked up by media across the country and in Great Britain.

“Part of the reason I wanted the video up is I saw other amputees doing cool stuff on YouTube, and I thought maybe mine could inspire someone else,” he said.

“The balance and landing are the hardest. It’s hard to balance on two legs and a big difference balancing on one.”

(To see the video, go to YouTube.com and search for “Adam’s first time back at the gym.”)

Starr began having problems with his foot and leg in high school. In 2009, Mayo Clinic doctors diagnosed him with angiosarcoma — cancer of the lining of blood vessels. He had to make the decision of whether to have his leg removed immediately or try other options first.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision to make because it was the best option. It’s a very fast and high-grade cancer and the leg was already problematic,” he said.

“There’s (ongoing) risk, but I’ve only had good news since the surgery.”

Besides returning to gymnastics as a hobby, Starr has gone rock climbing on the St. Olaf climbing wall and skis at Mount Kato when he’s home on break.

“Downhill skiing I don’t use my prosthetic leg. Biking I do. It just depends on what feels right.”

Starr said he gets his outlook on life from his mom and dad — Leslie, a longtime elementary teacher at Hoover, and Garrett, a Mankato dentist.

“My parents are very positive and encouraging.”

Tim Krohn is a Free Press staff writer. He can be contacted at 344-6383 or tkrohn@mankatofreepress.com

Click on the YouTube link HERE to see Adam at his fist session back at the gym.

At the age of 16 Andrea Evans caught meningitis, which resulted in kidney failure and the amputation of both her legs. Julia McWatt hears her story of survival and how she’s now helping a New Zealand earthquake survivor

WHEN Andrea Evans became severely unwell as a teenager, her family just put it down to food poisoning.

It was not until Andrea, who was 16 at the time, collapsed in the bathroom at her home in Danescourt, Cardiff, that they realised it was something more serious.

Andrea’s mother, Mary, a nurse at Rookwood Hospital, called 999 and she was rushed to the University Hospital of Wales, where they found that Andrea had the potentially deadly B-strain meningitis.

Andrea then spent nine weeks in hospital, five weeks in intensive care, and was on the brink of death as her organs started to fail.

Having caught the infection in October 2002, Andrea underwent a kidney transplant on Christmas Day 2003.

The infection had also caused blood poisoning that spread to her legs and, after 26 operations to try to save her legs, doctors had no choice but to amputate them both below the knee.

Andrea said: “I cannot remember the initial part of being hospitalised but I can remember being at home and feeling pretty poorly – very tired and I had a really bad head. My parents thought that it was a bit of food poisoning, until I was taken in to hospital and I became significantly worse.

“My legs had suffered extensively from the septicaemia side of the disease, and I had numerous operations on them including skin grafts. After a couple of months my legs were getting no better, so it was decided that they needed to be amputated in order for me to get better.

“Then, on Christmas Day in 2003, I received my kidney transplant and I am very grateful to my donor and her family.”

Andrea refused to let the disease ruin her life and went on to finish her A-levels at Bishop of Llandaff High School. She had wanted to become a paramedic, but could no longer kneel on the floor, so she decided to become a nurse.

She studied a foundation course in health science at the University of Glamorgan and then enrolled for her nursing degree at the same university.

She said: “The initial challenge of starting the course was great, but I was not sure if I would be able to complete my studies as I was not sure if I could stand for the duration of a shift. But I graduated in 2009 and worked full time until earlier this year.

“Initially the effects of meningitis didn’t affect me too much, but it affected my family and friends more. I can’t imagine what they went through emotionally for those first couple of weeks. However the recovery process was long. Often I wondered if it would ever get better. It’s strange because I had heard of meningitis, and had been vaccinated against it, so never realised that I would contract a different strain. I have been very, very lucky and I have an awesome prosthetist who has helped me over and above his duty.”

Having made a full recovery and using prosthetic limbs, Andrea moved to Christchurch, New Zealand in March this year with her boyfriend, Mike.

She is planning to continue her work as a nurse when her work visas come through and is currently providing support to a woman who survived the earthquake but suffered severe injuries to her limbs.

She said: “I have had some contact with a young lady who was injured in the quake. I am just trying to support her and tell her that things will get better as she is trying to adjust to her new life with severe injuries.”

Andrea’s mother, Mary, who still lives in Danescourt, said: “She got gradually worse and then collapsed in the toilet.

“It was really scary as we did not really know what was wrong. We got to A&E and then I noticed she had a purple rash. When we look back we can see the signs of septicaemia.

“After she had her legs amputated, she was like a different personbecause the infection was out of her body.

“She made a good recovery and is so inspiring. She is so determined with what she wants to do.”

MENINGITIS FACTS

Meningitis can be either viral of bacterial and there are around 3,500 cases of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia each year.

Viral meningitis can be unpleasant but it is almost never life-threatening and most people will soon make a full recovery.

Bacterial meningitis is more serious and most cases are caused by meningococcal bacteria. These bacteria also cause septicaemia, a far more life-threatening form of the disease.

The Meningitis Research Foundation’s Counting the Costs campaign shows that a severe case of meningitis can cost £3m in a person’s lifetime in social, medical and educational costs, and are encouraging people to make sure they have their vaccinations.

Linda Glennie, head of research at the Meningitis Research Foundation, said: “Most of the time the type of meningitis is bacterial meningitis, which is the most life-threatening strain. The bacteria are passed from person to person and spread by close contact with people, such as living with them.

“Most of us at some time in our life might carry the bacteria in the back of our nose or throat and the chance of being a carrier rises in our lifetime. Between 15-25 years old, there is a 25% chance of being a carrier. Many of us do not get ill, we just pass it around until it gets to someone more susceptible.

Most cases of meningitis and septicaemia are individual cases that are not linked, but outbreaks can be quite frightening.

“The early stages of meningitis can look just like any other illness and it is often hard to tell the difference. You may start to feel feverish and under the weather and you might seem irritable. You usually get a fever and a headache. You may also get other symptoms like cold hands and feet and limb pain.

“The classic symptom is a rash that does not fade under the pressure of a glass. The rash will often spread quite rapidly and the spots become bigger as they spread. Other symptoms include having a stiff neck and a dislike of bright lights.

“We tell parents to always trust their instincts.

“It may appear that you child is just a bit ill but if they suddenly become a lot worse, see the doctor.

“Inoculation is very important to beat meningitis. All the inoculations that babies get have got meningitis vaccines in them. Keeping on top of the vaccines is extremely important.

“Vaccinations seem to be doing the trick for now but we are continuing our research as the disease may one day outsmart the vaccine.”

* For more information about meningitis and septicaemia visit www.meningitis.org

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/health-and-beauty-in-wales/2011/07/27/meningitis-survivor-andrea-evans-tells-tale-of-fight-against-deadly-disease-91466-29123904/#ixzz1TO12wGE5

A teenage ballerina chose to have her leg AMPUTATED after a huge benign tumour left her with an ‘elephant foot’ and unable to dance.

Chanel Carter, 15, was left devastated when she developed a rare bone condition that left her with a tumour on her right leg – crushing her dreams of becoming a dancer and choreographer.

Doctors managed to remove the benign tumour – which left Chanel with what she describes an ‘elephant foot’ – but within weeks, it had grown back.

But the teen, from Coventry, West Mids, made the incredibly brave decision to have her leg removed – as she had a better chance of being able to dance with a prosthetic limb.

Now she has made an incredible recovery – and just 11 months after the amputation, has learned to walk with a prosthetic limb – and even entered her school sports day.

Chanel, who was first diagnosed with desmoplastic fibroma four years ago, said: ‘My foot looked like an elephant’s foot and I couldn’t do any sport which I loved.

‘I had a passion for ballet and tap dancing, and I knew I stood no chance of being able to carry on with that if my leg remained the way it was.

‘It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make, but I know it would have been so much worse if I had left it.

‘It was really getting me down that I couldn’t do the things that my friends could do, and I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t keep up with them whenever we went out together.

‘But now I’m so glad I made the choice that I did – I can live the normal life I never would have been able to have if I still had my foot.’

Chanel was 12 when she was diagnosed with desmoplastic fibroma, an extremely rare condition that affects the bones.

Over time the aggressive cells had completely destroyed the growth bone in Chanel’s right foot leaving her in constant agony and unable to walk.

She said: ‘They warned me about six months before I had my operation that I might want to consider amputation.

‘I had had one operation to try to remove the tumour but unfortunately it came back.

‘I didn’t want to have to amputate my leg but I didn’t want to live with the tumour either.’

In August last year Chanel of Canley, Coventry, had the operation to remove part of her lower right leg and foot at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham.

She said: ‘It was an hour in theatre and an hour and a half in recovery. When I came round it didn’t feel strange because I was expecting my leg not to be there.

‘My mum wanted to see what I looked like straight away, but I wasn’t bothered about looking. It was only when I went to take a shower that I started crying.

‘But I knew that I had to live with my decision, and threw myself into learning to walk again.
‘I haven’t cried since. Now I’m just please to be back on two feet.

‘When I first had my prosthetic leg fitted I had to go every week to physio every week, but I didn’t mind at all, I found learning to walk again quite easy and everyone was so supportive.

‘It made me want to work with disabled people when I’m older as a physiotherapist.

Chanel’s mum, June, 40, said: ‘It would have been very difficult for any 14-year-old girl to make that decision but she dealt with it brilliantly.

‘She coped with it so well and she hasn’t moaned about it once, she just got on with it.

‘I’m so proud of her.’

Popular Chanel had to spend three months in a wheelchair following her operation while she endured months of gruelling physiotherapy.

Chanel is back enjoying exercise again and even took part in her school’s sports day, despite teachers trying to stop her.

She said: ‘They didn’t want to let me do the relay race because of health and safety reasons but I convinced them to let me.

‘It felt really good being part of a team and having fun with my friends.’

Chanel’s bravery has not gone unnoticed by her peers and on July 11 she was presented with the prestigious Diana Award for courageous citizens.

She said: ‘My headmaster nominated me without me knowing.

‘He kept it a secret because he didn’t want me to be disappointed if I didn’t get it.

‘Then he called me into his office before the end of term and explained that I had won. I was really pleased, it was such an honour to win.’

Please copy and paste this link into your URL to see pictures of Chanel: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2019303/Ballerina-leg-AMPUTATED-dance-rare-bone-condition.html#ixzz1TNxtqqEX

All at the Douglas Bader Foundation wish you the very best for the future, Chanel. With your positive outlook we’re sure you’ll make an excellent and inspirational physiotherapist. Do contact us to let us know how you get on.

WENZHOU, July 26 (Xinhua) — A two-year-eight-month-old girl rescued 21 hours after a deadly high-speed train crash in east China probably will not lose her left leg, said her doctor Tuesday.

The two-year-old Xiang Weiyi receives medical treatment in a hospital in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 25, 2011. The child was discovered and rescued in the train wreckage at 17:15 p.m. Sunday, 20 hours after the train crash accident occurred. The train collision in east China's Zhejiang Province has killed 35 people and left 211 others injured as of 6 p.m. Sunday. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

“Currently, the hospital doesn’t intend to perform an amputation,” said Chen Xinglong, who is in charge of the girl’s treatment at the No. 2 Hospital Attached to the Wenzhou Medical College, at a news conference on Tuesday morning.

“The girl’s situation is improving every day,” Chen said.

The doctors previously said the girl, Xiang Weiyi, possibly faced the amputation due to poor blood circulation in her left leg.

On Sunday night, Xiang underwent leg surgery aimed at improving blood flow.

“On Monday morning, the blood circulation in Xiang’s left leg wasn’t good and her toes looked ash-colored. But that afternoon, the situation greatly improved, and today her blood circulation has almost come back to normal,” Chen said.

Yet although the surgery was successful, the function of Xiang’s leg might be affected in the future as she suffered muscular death after being crushed in the carriage, according to Tang Jifei, deputy director of the hospital.

Xiang suffered bruises to her lung, liver and soft tissue in the accident. She also suffered insufficient blood supply in two toes of her left foot.

Before the accident that occurred late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou, Xiang and her parents were on D3115 train, which was later rear-ended by D301 train.

They were heading from Hangzhou, the capital of neighboring Zhejiang Province, to their hometown Wenzhou.

Her father Xiang Yu’an and mother Shi Lihong were confirmed among the dead after the train collision, according to a name list of the victims provided by the Wenzhou police Tuesday.

Firefighters rescued Xiang around 5 p.m. Sunday. She was the last person rescued from the wreckage.

Chen said Xiang is still in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and able to identify her family and talk.

“She often says, “Mummy, hug me”,” Chen said.

On Monday morning, the little girl, half sleeping, mistook a nurse who held her in her arms for her mother.

“Mummy, where are you? I thought you didn’t want me anymore,” she said to the nurse. Many medical staff in the ICU wept.

Chen said given the girl’s physical condition they haven’t told her about her parents’ death.

Football star Hao Haidong has indicated a willingness to adopt Xiang.

“I’ve talked to my wife, and she supports the idea of adopting her. We sincerely hope that we can help her,” Hao said in a message posted on his account of Weibo, Chinese popular Twitter-like microblogging site.

However, the girl’s uncle said that although Hao’s proposal is kind, it’s unnecessary.

During a media interview, he thanked Hao for his sentiments but said that “Yi Yi (the girl’s nickname) doesn’t need to be adopted and won’t be adopted by anybody.” ]]> http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/2011/07/27/update-a-better-outcome-looks-likely-for-little-xiang-weiyi/feed/ 0 http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/2011/07/27/bus-driver-who-had-one-leg-amputated-told-he-wont-get-insurance-payout-unless-other-one-is-cut-off-too/ http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/2011/07/27/bus-driver-who-had-one-leg-amputated-told-he-wont-get-insurance-payout-unless-other-one-is-cut-off-too/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:14:50 +0000 wendy http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/?p=4715 By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Last updated at 7:31 AM on 27th July 2011

A bus driver who had to have his leg amputated was told by his insurers they would only pay out if he lost both legs.

Martin Wells spent more than £4,500 on critical illness cover with Scottish Widows over the past 12 years in the belief he would qualify for a pay-out of up to £500,000 if he became seriously ill.

The 47-year-old was forced to have an above-the-knee amputation of his left leg after suffering a series of severe infections.

Insurance fury: Bus driver Martin Wells, 47, was told he would have to lose his other leg too before his insurance company pay out

He cannot work for up to 18 months and says he will now only ever be able to manage part-time hours.

The father-of-three, who first injured the leg 30 years ago in a motorbike accident, was told he cannot use the policy to write off his £40,000 mortgage.

Mr Wells said: ‘I was told in no uncertain terms that I would need to have two limbs amputated before they would pay.’

‘It’s ridiculous. People take these policies out in good faith.’

He has shelled out between £30 and £35 a month for critical illness cover over the last 12 years.

Mr Wells, from Derby, hopes to return to work after he has had a false leg fitted and fully recovered from the operation.

His employer, Premier Travel, in Nottinghamshire, has buses with automatic gearboxes so he will not need to operate a clutch pedal.

But the combination of the amputation and arthritis in his right knee means he will not be able to work full-time again.

He said money is ‘a big concern’ with three children – Charlotte 19, who is struggling to find work, Lauren, 17, and Simon, 15.

The father had his leg amputated at Royal Derby Hospital in May three decades after the original motorcycle accident.

Eleven years later, that scar was ripped open during a fall at work.

A spokesman for Scottish Widows said the company was simply following standard guidance.

The policy covers ‘loss of hands or feet – permanent physical severance of any combination of two or more hands or feet at or above the wrist or ankle joints’.

The spokesman said: ‘Under the Association of British Insurers loss of limb definition, adhered to by Scottish Widows, a critical illness policy only pays out when two limbs are lost.’

But Sarah Fullaway, joint-director of Derby-based financial services company Oviso, said many critical illness polices now offered enhanced cover.

She said: ‘Under the enhanced policy the loss of one arm or leg means you get a full payment.’

She said this trend had begun about five years ago in a bid to win more customers and that it was standard practice for these policies to be offered to new clients only.

To read more and see pictures visit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019201/Insurance-Man-leg-amputated-wont-payout-unless-cut-off.html#ixzz1TIMLIuFW

Sgt. Shaun Tichenor, 32, a graduate of Staples-Motley High School, is currently rehabilitating at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., after stepping on an improvised explosive device last spring in Afghanistan and undergoing a leg amputation in June.

Sgt. Shaun Tichenor, a Staples-Motley High School graduate who lost a limb as the result of the explosion of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, is currently rehabilitating at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington.

It was the early morning of April 23, at the conclusion of an overnight patrol near Kandahar, when the U.S. Army soldier stepped on an IED, triggering an explosion that shattered his right heel and damaged his ankle. That explosion set into motion a series of medical transfers and procedures. He was helicoptered to Kandahar Air Field Hospital where surgery was done on his leg.  He then went to Bagram Air Base and later Landstuhl in West Germany before being transferred to Fort Bragg in North Carolina

At Fort Bragg Tichenor faced a choice. He could have keep his leg and have limited mobility or approve an amputation and with the help of a prosthesis, have a more active life. He and his wife, Mixas Rivera Tichenor, decided in favor of the amputation and on June 3 his foot was amputated about six inches below the knee.

The couple are the parents of three children, Janae, Shaun Jr., and Alejandro.

Tichenor is undergoing physical and occupational therapy after receiving a new prosthesis on July 6.

“I just got my prothesis about a week and half ago and I’m already walking pretty good with it,” he said. “My physical therapist said I’ll be walking pretty good in about a month, without a crutch, and I’ll be running in four or five months.”

From the outset, he told his therapists he was serious about the rehabilitation.

“I don’t want to slack,” he said. “I want to be pushed. I’m not here to waste time. I’m here to get better and get back to my (infantry) unit.”

Whether Tichenor is able achieve his No. 1 goal — to return to his unit — will depend on what turns out to be the “end state” of his rehabilitation. Should his physical condition prevent him from rejoining his unit, Tichenor would like to continue in the Army as an instructor in basic training or as a liaison to Wounded Warriors.

“My main goal is to stay in the infantry,” he said, “get back in the fight.”

He credited his positive attitude to his work ethic and to his family.

“I’ve got three kids that look up to me,” he said.

Virginia Tichenor Staley of Pine River, Tichenor’s mother, who is also an Army veteran, said her son is third generation Army person. His grandfather, RIchard L. Tichenor, also served in the U.S. Army. She said in an email the Wounded Warrior program was helpful when she traveled to the East Coast to visit her son and the Family Assistance Group with the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Organization in the Brainerd area has also offered assistance to her.

Tichenor said his family lived in the Brainerd area during his school years.

While recuperating at Walter Reed, Tichenor said he had the opportunity to meet former talk show host Montel Williams, Jon Stewart of the “Daily Show” and President Barack Obama.

“I shook his hand and talked about football for about five minutes,” he recalled of his meeting witht he president.

His injury, he said, gave him a deeper understanding of the determination of wounded service members and the importance of family.

“It really opened my eyes,” he said of the soldiers. “They have the same attitude I do. I don’t see very many with a bad attitude.

Also, he credited his wife and family for being the backbone to his recovery efforts.

“If I didn’t have my wife and kids, I don’t think it would be going as good,” he said. “My wife kicked me in the butt sometimes.”

It took one clinic for Castelli to run again. One session, after needing two months to learn to walk again. One session, after a year and a half of pain in her right leg that eventually led to a below-the-knee amputation. One session, after two years of a frustrating journey that followed an awkward slide into second base in a college softball game.

This was hardly the first — or the last — of the emotions. Watching their daughter run with her prosthetic leg that day in June 2010, the Castellis bawled.

“The light came on,” Pete Castelli said. “And of course, the people that ran the clinic were like, ‘Wow.’ We were in tears watching her run again — the fastest she ever did.”

One year after that clinic — organized by the Challenged Athletes Foundation — Denise Castelli, a Netcong native, sprinted along the nets of a side court in Flushing Meadows, chasing stray tennis balls during a U.S. Open ball girl tryout. Thursday, less than two years after the lower half of her right leg was amputated, Castelli will find out if she has been selected to work as one of 80 ball girls or boys for the country’s premier tennis tournament in August.

Castelli was one of two amputees to try out, part of an initiative developed three years ago by John Korff, director at-large on the United States Tennis Association board of directors.

“She’s clearly got the endurance, the strength and the presence to be able to do this in front of 20,000 people,” Korff said. “She’s the quintessential … spokesperson for something like this.”

She knew right away her leg was broken.

The University of New Haven had the April 22, 2008, game well in hand in the seventh inning, but Denise Castelli was one of the Chargers’ speediest baserunners.

With no outs, she got the steal sign. She took off for second, and broke into an awkward slide. Her right leg got caught under her left and she felt it snap. She crawled to the base before the tag, but she knew.

“Coach!” she screamed. “I broke my leg!”

She had no idea, though, of the complications that would follow.

It wouldn’t heal. Debbie Chin, New Haven’s athletic director, talked to Castelli periodically after she graduated. Each time, she was bewildered at how her leg wasn’t getting healthier.

In the year and a half that followed her injury, Castelli was in Morristown Memorial Hospital more than out. She saw specialist after specialist. She underwent 37 surgeries.

There was always another small problem, another complication.

“I remember different times when you hear promising news,” Pete Castelli said. “Her and I would high-five, or we’d feel that this would be the defining moment. It would finally be over and we were going to finally start to move forward.

“That just didn’t seem to ever come.”

Infection spread throughout her leg. Doctors couldn’t find the solution, and finally decided to amputate.
Pete wouldn’t be convinced so quickly. He went to Google, desperate for options he hoped could save his daughter’s leg. He called doctors at Columbia and Johns Hopkins before coming across a “limb preservation center” at Georgetown.

“Just the phrase itself,” he said, “seemed to give me hope.”

Doctors there determined the same fate. They amputated in two stages across 30 days so the infection wouldn’t follow their work. On Nov. 4, 2009, they completed the amputation.

“It was disbelief, you know?” Pete said. “How did we get here? From just a broken leg?”

WALKING AGAIN

Denise Castelli takes her first step on her prosthetic right leg. Photo Courtesy Denise Castelli

This moment was two years in the making. The moment Denise Castelli would be able to walk freely again.

She was nervous to receive her prosthetic leg — yet anxious. She was certain some sort of normalcy would return to her life — yet all the details seemed so uncertain.

What is it going to feel like? What if I fall? Is walking really going to be walking?

When she got to Metro Brace and Limb in the Bronx, she bypassed someone who offered to take her coat. Castelli’s prosthetist, Jorge Gonzalez, put a walker near her chair for her to hold onto when she was able to stand up. He set up parallel bars in the hallway for her to hold onto while walking.

Castelli put on her prosthetic leg and let go of the walker. She walked into the hallway, confident enough to not use the parallel bars.

“It was … I’m going to cry,” Castelli said, recalling the day in early March 2010. “I don’t know. It was the moment I felt like … the moment I knew I was really going to be okay. I could do anything now. It was an incredible feeling.

“When you start walking when you’re a baby, you don’t remember. I’m sure your parents remember, but you don’t remember the first time you got up and took steps. For me, I really get to remember my second first time learning how to walk.”

For Castelli, the four months between her amputation and getting her prosthetic leg was the most frustrating period. That day, she walked again. Two months later, she ran at the CAF clinic in New York.

Soon, she started playing sports again. She tried softball again last summer, but that was ambitious. In the winter, she played volleyball in a West Milford parks and recreation league. This year, her confidence built to try again at softball.

“I feel like I am exactly where I was before I was amputated,” Castelli said. “Nothing has been stopping me. It’s a really cool feeling.”

A NERVOUS TRYOUT

Denise Castelli runs for the first time with her prosthetic right leg at Chelsea Piers in New York. Photo Courtesy of Denise Castelli

As Castelli ran along the net during her tryout, she concentrated hard. She was determined to prove she could perform as well as anyone else trying out.

“I feel like when someone with one leg falls, everyone gasps and looks,” Castelli said. “I was just nervous. I did not want to fall. That was what I kept telling myself.”

Her tryout came after Korff of the USTA reached out to local organizations including the CAF, looking for a below-the-knee amputee young woman between 20 and 25. And he wanted one that could throw.

Nancy Reynolds, the CAF’s director of development, had the perfect candidate. In early June, she sent an e-mail to Denise, who immediately accepted.

She didn’t prepare much. The night before her tryout, she went out and threw a tennis ball to get used to its weight. As she admits, the first couple throws of her tryout were “pitiful.”

She moved past the nerves soon. And she impressed. She retrieved one ball at the net before spinning 360 degrees to chase another.

She did everything but fall.

“When I was talking to one of my colleagues at the USTA,” Korff said, “I said, ‘Look. She’s going to end up working the finals on the stadium court.’ She was amazing.”

NEVER LOSING HOPE

Denise Castelli, of Netcong, trains on her prosthetic right leg at a Challenged Athletes Foundation clinic. Photo courtesy of Denise Castelli

There was a time, Castelli admits, when the thought crossed her mind. She was unsure if she’d ever walk again.

“When someone tells you they’re going to amputate your leg, you can’t really imagine,” she said. “Like, ‘Oh, I’ll be fine. I’ll be walking again.’ No. It takes time to set in.

“I don’t know if I ever lost hope completely, but I definitely was unsure for a little bit.”

Running was the same. Castelli recently applied for and was approved for a grant for a running leg from the CAF.

In her application, she wrote of her time at the clinic last June. Going in, she was skeptical. But she listened carefully to instructor Bob Gailey’s speech and tried to mimic the technique he showed the athletes.

“As soon as he allowed us to break out and fully sprint, I took off,” she wrote in the application. “I couldn’t believe I actually ran. I couldn’t believe I didn’t fall. I couldn’t believe how great it felt to feel wind brush against my face as I glided on the turf.

“From that point, I was determined. I left the workshop that day with something I thought I had lost forever: confidence.”

Brett LoGiurato: blogiurato@starledger.com

********************************************************************************

We all at the DOUGLAS BADER FOUNDATION salute your courage, Denise, and wish you the very best of luck in your quest to be chosen as a ball girl at the U.S. Open. We’re sure you’ll succeed and know that Sir Douglas would have admired your spirit and would be behind you all the way.

A one-legged South African man has been found using his 11-year-old to operate the clutch in his car.

The 39-year-old motorist – who had a leg amputation in 1996 after being shot – has been banned from driving and fined 1,000 rand (£90) after police caught him pulling the stunt.

“He won’t be allowed

to drive, but he shouldn’t

have been driving in the

first place.”

He was found to have an expired learner’s permit for automatic cars, but he was discovered driving a manual transmission truck which had a broken seat belt and parking brake.

Chief traffic inspector Merle Lourens said: “He won’t be allowed to drive, but he shouldn’t have been driving in the first place.”

• Monday, July 18th, 2011

Failings at a Croydon Hospital which led to a woman having to suffer a limb amputation, has resulted in a successful £75,000 medical negligence compensation claim.

The woman, who has not been named, was admitted to the Croydon University Hospital, suffering with pains in her leg and an ulcer on her foot. Following tests at the hospital it was revealed that the woman’s main artery had narrowed but before surgery could be performed to correct the problem, the woman developed a blood clot.

The Your Local Guardian newspaper is reporting that the hospital successfully dealt with the blood clot but did not take preventative measures to stop the problem re-occurring. As a result the woman suffered a second blood clot which led to the amputation of her leg from just above her knee.

The patient’s daughter claimed that delays in organising adequate treatment for her mother led to the amputation, which was the view shared by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman who agreed that the hospital had failed to treat the woman properly.

A spokesperson for the hospital stated that the Trust had accepted the decision of the Ombudsman and has apologised to the woman and her family as well as paying compensation, thought to be in the region of £75,000.

The 25-year-old has spent the last two years undergoing physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was welcomed home Saturday by about 300 friends, family and neighbors. Marracco accepted keys to his new custom, handicap accessible home that was built over a 10 month period entirely by donations and with the help of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation and Building Homes for Heroes.

“When you talk about an effort, a monumental effort, to get something done, we’ve lived it. And we’ve lived it only because people like you chose to make it possible for us. And people like you chose to make a difference in Brendan’s life,” said Alex Marrocco, Brendan’s father.

The veteran, who left for the army in 2008, hopes to transition back home completely by the end of the month.

“It’s been a long time since I lived back in Staten Island,” Marracco said. “Finally, I can leave the hospital and go back to life.”

With lighting operated by sensors and remote controlled front and rear doors, the home features technology meant to make Marracco’s life as normal as possible. All the ramps and porches even have electric heat maps to melt away snow or ice during the winter.

Kitchen counters also lower automatically along with shelves from the upper cabinets.

The Siller Foundation raised over $650,000 with contributions from additional organizations, fund-raisers and personal donations. Almost $200,000 was raised by the Firefighters for Wounded Veterans.

“I have no idea what to say,” Marrocco said moments before an American flag covering the entire home was removed to reveal his new home. “I just want to say, thank you.”

Spare a thought this evening for Guardsman Joe Penlington, 20, from Mold in North Wales. Nearly two years after an Improvised Explosive Device ripped through his Viking in Helmand, the soldier had an initial procedure to have his left leg amputated earlier today. The second, main procedure will take place tomorrow (Wednesday).

Joe, who features in my book “Dead Men Risen”, considers himself one of the lucky ones. He was sitting next to Trooper Joshua Hammond, who was blown to pieces and killed instantly. In front of him, standing in the “top cover” position, was his Welsh Guards commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe. The blast tore Thorneloe’s legs off; he was briefly conscious but died within minutes.

Luck, of course, is a relative thing in Helmand. Earlier that day, July 1st 2009, Joe had been given the chance to remain behind and not go on the convoy from FOB Shawqat up to Crossing Point 7 on the Shamalan Canal.

But rather than let Guardsman Joe Lloyd go in his place, Joe Penlington challenged him to a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would stay behind. Penlington chose scissors and Lloyd went for rock. So Lloyd stayed behind.

Guardsman Joe Penlington, top right, about two hours before his Viking was blown up on 1 July 2009. The other three guardsmen posing with him on an old T62 Russian tank received minor injuries but survived.

Joe Penlington has had many dark moments. When I first met him in Headley Court back in November 2009, he was lying prostrate in his hospital bed deeply frustrated that  doctors had decided he was not well enough even to be wheeled onto the parade ground to receive his campaign medal from Prince Charles the following day.

Since then, I’ve followed his progress on Facebook, where his posts display an irrepressible good humour. In January, he posted a video of himself walking for the first time in 19 months, with the aid of parallel bars. A few weeks ago, there was a video of him shuffling around with a Zimmer frame.

It was Joe’s own decision to have his left leg amputated. Last year, Lance Corporal Geraint Hillard, another Weslh Guardsman, opted to have his right leg taken off more than a year after his Jackal vehicle had been blown up. There are dozens of British servicemen facing similar dilemmas. They’re never in the headlines but their battles go on.

While it’s easy to get maudlin about the plight of wounded servicemen, I prefer to reflect instead on the incredible determination they display.

For Joe Penlington, who spent some 72 hours in surgery in the three months after he was injured, losing a leg is a stage on the way to recovery. He was already thinking about amputation when I saw him. “If it doesn’t show any signs of healing, I’ll get rid of it,” he told me. “No point in carrying dead weight.”

Joe’s spelling leaves a fair bit to be desired but there’s nothing wrong with his spirit. The information section on his Facebook page declares: “im joe. i gt blowen up nd survived!!! suck eggs!!!!!”

In his status update yesterday he thanked everyone for their good wishes, remarking matter-of-factly that he was going “2 hospital 2 gt his leg cut off 2moz!!” For those of us apt to post updates such as “looking forward to Friday” or “bad day at work”, that rather puts things in perspective.

Bacterial meningitis caused Kyla Winters of Carmel Valley to lose both her legs to amputation but she can walk again and still considers herself lucky.

In the summer of 2009, she was with a group of friends when she suddenly felt awful and told them to get her to a hospital, quick. She recalls telling them somewhat prophetically that she was dying and that they needed to call an ambulance. She was rushed to Scripps Mercy Hospital emergency department in Hillcrest.

“Within 24 hours I had kidney failure,” says Winters, 39, who relies on the memory of her twin sister to tell her story. Much of what happened for the next three months that Winters remained in the hospital is a blur. She recalls nothing of her stint in the hospital intensive care unit (ICU), partly, doctors explained, because of a condition called ICU psychosis, when the body undergoes such daily stress that the memory tends to fail.

“I was in ICU four weeks,” said Winters. “I don’t remember being in the hospital.”

Doctors had conducted numerous tests, a CT scan, and x-rays and were fairly certain that there was no brain damage, said Liana Thomas, Winters’ twin sister who took the first flight to San Diego upon hearing of her sister’s hospitalization.

“We were all worried because mentally she would be awake but kind of delirious, and meningitis often will affect the brain,” Thomas said.

Doctors in the emergency department quickly administered antibiotics. One more hour without medical intervention and she might have died, says Winters, a couple hours earlier and she might now have more limbs.

“You die very, very quickly,” Winters said, describing what she later learned about the disease.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord and can result from a bacterial, fungal, or viral infection. Bacterial meningitis like that which Winters experienced is a respiratory condition that is acutely life threatening. Also known as meningococcemia, symptoms include high fever, headaches, a rash, and stiffness in the neck.

Winters learned later that she caught the meningitis strain from another person. “You catch it like a cold,” she said. “I was run down. I’m sort of a workaholic.”

Winters was hospitalized for more than three months. Before turning the corner to recovery, her blood pressure plummeted several times and she suffered three cardiac arrests and respiratory and kidney failure, resulting in amputation of both legs and all fingers. She was dying from the meningitis and doctors at one point gave her less than 10 percent chance of survival, she said.

The effects of meningitis left her legs, fingers and thumbs septic with disease that ultimately required amputation. Winters giggles slightly and explains that she has gross photos of her blackened limbs before they were amputated in October of 2009.

“Basically all the blood rushes to your organs to try to save your life,” she said.

She has since had several operations to stretch skin and sculpt what is left of her hands in a way that allows her to grasp objects. A metal plate implanted in her hand serves somewhat like the thumb that was amputated.

“It gives me my functionality because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to pick things up,” said Winters, demonstrating how it works by lifting a prosthetic leg that she has just removed in order to sit more comfortably.

More operations on her hands are planned using bolts that will have to be turned six times a day in order to lengthen the bone. In the meantime, she is learning new ways to do things without fingers.

After her hospitalization, Winters devoted months to rehabilitation at Vibra Hospital and Sharp Hospital and Rehabilitation where she learned how to use her new prosthetic legs and reshaped, fingerless hands. Her courage to overcome adversity will be recognized by Sharp HealthCare Foundation during its annual Victories of Spirit event on June 3. She is among five people to receive the Eagle Spirit Award that symbolizes the Navajo sign of the most potent healing power.

“We celebrate not only their amazing stories but celebrate their commitment to giving back to the community to benefit others,” Sharp’s System Director of Rehabilitation Services David Brown said in a news release.

The most challenging moments of Winters’ rehabilitation happened when she tried to stand for the first time. At first she was afraid to try to stand using prosthetic legs. Her doctors were concerned about her progress because the process from standing to walking is usually gradual, she said.

“It took me a while to get to the standing position but then when I was able to stand, I pretty much started walking right away,” Winters said.

Kyla Winters

“So at first they were like, ‘What’s taking her so long?’ Then I was immediately walking and they were surprised by that.”

Winters has set a goal to return in a year to her position as chief development officer for the Alpha Project for the Homeless, where she worked for the past 13 years. While on disability leave, she volunteers as often as possible for the Alpha Project and mentors people like herself who have lost limbs to amputation.

Her rehabilitation has been helped along by others without limbs who she met on a web site where they share tips about how to function as amputees. She learned to place colorful, sticky plastic flags like those used for documents on her credit cards to make it easier to pull them from her wallet or an ATM machine. And when she first started driving a car again, it was friends at the web site that informed her that she did not have to use special equipment just because she wears prosthetics.

Winters’ twin sister, husband and children moved from Alameda to San Diego to help with her recovery. From the beginning, Liana played a major role in her rehabilitation and wanted to do everything possible to help, including donate limbs if necessary, Winters said. Ultimately, she donated a kidney that was transplanted into Winters’ body in the fall of 2010, allowing her to finally come off kidney dialysis.

Initially, her sister was pregnant with her second child and therefore unable to donate a kidney right away. So Winters endured 10 hours of daily dialysis for a year while waiting for the right time for the transplant. Liana and her 4-year-old son kept the dialysis machine operating with daily changes in liquids to keep it running smoothly.

“My nephew helped,” Winters said. “He knew what buttons to push.”

“It was pretty uncomfortable,” she recalled about life during dialysis. “I’m so glad to be off it.”

Whenever possible, Winters likes to encourage people to learn about the meningitis vaccine and to consider being an organ donor. She says she is living proof that organ donation saves lives. She is also fortunate that because her kidney came from her twin she does not require as much immunosuppressant medication to prevent her body from rejecting her new organ.

Winters is excited about the next step in her rehabilitation which will include learning to walk with a different set of legs that can accommodate high heels. While she views herself as a tough and committed fighter for better lives for people who are homeless, she also has another side to her personality that has always loved heels, lip gloss, and being feminine.

Before her illness, people teased her about why she drove such a “junky car” and she often replied it was because she liked her shoes, joked Winters. She liked them so much, that the twins now laugh at Liana’s initial reaction to hearing the word amputation because her first thoughts were how devastated her sister would be if she could no longer wear high heels.

Other changes that Winters has had to adjust to include temporarily giving up her beloved pet greyhound Diego. She looks forward to the day they can be reunited but for now he lives with a friend because she is unable to take him for daily walks.

She is still getting used to living without her natural legs and sometimes falls because she forgets she doesn’t have them. Despite her setbacks and the challenges ahead, she is grateful for the love of family and looks at life as she did before her medical ordeal, with hope and optimism, she said.

“I’m so lucky to have a twin. I don’t look like I’m lucky but I am. Not a lot of people survive bacterial meningitis and most of them don’t have identical twins.”

Kyla Winters and her twin sister, Liana

Jen Clark recovering at home in Grangetown, Sunderland, after having both her legs amputated.

The 41-year-old, from Hollycarrside, first had to have her deformed feet amputated to overcome a deteriorating condition.

But after buying her first pair of shoes and learning to walk all over again, relentless pain meant Jennifer had to resign herself to life in a wheelchair or have her legs amputated below the knee.

The mum, married to David, 30, agreed to the op and is now recovering at home.

“I’m in a lot of pain, but I’m setting myself little targets every day,” she said. “My challenge for today was washing my hair, and I’ve done that.

“I’m hoping by tomorrow to get to Asda.”

Jennifer, whose children are aged from two to 17, is also hoping to take her family away for their first ever family holiday together later this summer.

“I’d love to go to Florida, but I’d settle for Legoland or Haggerston Castle,” she said. “We’ve never had a family holiday before – circumstances have just got in the way of things.”

Jennifer has only just got out of hospital, but said she is already going “stir crazy”.

The insurance worker is helping market her husband’s photography business – DC Photography in Up Market, Fawcett Street – online, and hopes to get back to work herself soon.

“I’m hoping to be working from home by the end of June, but I don’t know when I’ll actually get back to work properly – probably by Christmas time.”

Jennifer was born with congenital bilateral talipes, which meant her feet were shaped like horses’ hooves and she had to walk on her toes.

But when her feet started to crumble away in 2006, she took the decision to have them amputated and replaced with prosthetics rather than spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

She was able to buy her first pair of shoes – her actual feet had been too deformed to wear anything other than surgical boots.

Now Jennifer must go through it all again. If check-ups show the amputation has brought an end to the pain, she must wait until her wounds are healed and stitches removed before being fitted for protheses.

She said: “I’ll have a new centre of balance and I’ll have to learn to walk all over again.”

l Jennifer runs a website and also posts videos on YouTube to help others facing amputation. She also hopes to show others more fortunate the challenges facing people who have limbs removed. For details, visit http://theamputeediaries.blogspot.com.

By Ross Robertson
Published on Wednesday 1 June 2011 11:20

Sunderland Echo

The South African Oscar Pistorius is determined to make history next year by becoming the first disabled athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

A lean and sculpted Oscar Pistorius politely pushes aside a breakfast basket piled high with croissants and pastries. He stretches out his legs for the day and gazes at the London skyline as he thinks of his fridge back home in Pretoria. “I’ve got a little calendar on my fridge door and I’m ticking off the days until London 2012. That’s why I know we’re down to less than 430. It’s really getting close now.”

Pistorius laughs but it seems striking that he should highlight the fact that 428 days are left before the start of the London Olympics. As an athlete known as the Blade Runner, as the multiple Paralympic record-holder and serial gold medal winner, it might be assumed Pistorius would concentrate on a different opening ceremony. But the South African is determined to make history next year by becoming the first disabled athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

He knows that 461 days remain before the Paralympics because Pistorius also aims to surpass his achievement in Beijing where, in 2008, he won three golds. “I’m excited about running the 4x100m relay,” he says of a fourth medal chance to supplement his individual events in the 100m, 200m and, his best race, the 400m. “I ran it for the first time at the Paralympic world championships this January. We only practised for 20 minutes but ended up five‑hundredths of a second off the world record. The relay could be a big highlight.”

At those championships Pistorius lost a 100m race for the first time in seven years – to his closest rival, Jerome Singleton. He responded magnificently and, in March, achieved the 400m Olympic “B” qualifying mark of 45.61sec. Over the next month, beginning on Friday at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, he plans to run the “A” qualifying time of 45.25 which would guarantee automatic entry into the Olympics.

“I’m on track to achieve it and the closer we get to it the hungrier I am. I’ve improved by nearly half a second over the last year so I really should make it. The ability is there – and so is the focus. Last week in training I ran a 10.99 in the 100m. So I’d like to go under 11 in Manchester as it hasn’t been in done in five years. It would send a message back to Jerome: ‘What’s up buddy? Come out and play.’”

An extraordinary story began in November 1986 when a baby was born in Johannesburg. Oscar Pistorius was perfect from his chubby thighs up to his bright little brain. But he had a genetic disorder in both his legs. Each was missing its fibula, the long bone running from below the knee joint and down to the ankle. His parents confronted a stark choice. Should they prepare their child for a life in a wheelchair or could they face sanctioning a double amputation?

When Oscar was 11 months old Henke and Sheila Pistorius decided on amputation. A South African surgeon, Gerry Versveld, successfully severed both legs and, within six months, a tottering toddler took his first step on a set of fibreglass pegs. Oscar’s childhood was still bookended by heartache; his parents divorced when he was six and, far more devastatingly, his mother died when he was just 15. But he developed startling self-belief as, inspired by his mother, he played rugby, water polo and tennis not far below junior provincial standard. He only discovered running after he had been injured in a rugby match. During rehab he showed a rare talent for sprinting on prosthetic legs.

Pistorius competed at his first Paralympics in Athens eight months later. Aged 17 in 2004 he just lost the 100m final but won gold in the 200m. He might have made it to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 had he not been banned by the IAAF the year before. Showing the same insensitivity it would exhibit in 2009, during the gender furore surrounding Caster Semenya, who trains at the same Pretoria track as Pistorius, the IAAF stooped to spying on him and then announced its tests proved his “blades” provided an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes. Pistorius refused to buckle. He gathered some renowned scientists around him and coolly demolished the IAAF case at the court of arbitration for sport. He was granted permission to run in world and Olympic competition.

“I thought I’d be ecstatic,” Pistorius remembers, “but it was more a case that at last I could get back to doing what I’m meant to be doing. The IAAF and I are getting on quite nicely now.”

Convinced that he will face no further legal challenges, he reacts with interest when told that David James, a sports engineer at Sheffield Hallam University, still argues that Pristorius’s “Cheetah Flex-Foot” blades give him a “distinct advantage” over the last half of a 400m race. James appears to ignore the glaring disadvantage Pistorius encounters over the first 200m when, without ankles to power him from the blocks, his passive blades are of limited use. Instead, James suggests that advances in modern technology could lead to someone, wearing high-tech blades, running 100m in 8sec by 2016.

Pistorius, who has little hope of making a 400m Olympic final, acknowledges the rocketing rate of technology. “You probably could run 100m in eight seconds – because people are coming up with pretty radical ideas. But they’d never be legal. Whenever we make any modifications we have to send it to the IAAF. We have to submit the design, and explain the reasons for the modified composition, and then they test it and say whether or not it’s fine. We can’t just slap on changes and turn up to race.”

Has Pistorius tried out any radical designs – just for fun? “The prosthetic companies we work with are medically based. They’re not trying anything superhuman. But they do cool stuff with feet. One company makes an advanced foot worth thousands of pounds. It can make 55 readings a second so if you’re walking uphill it senses the incline and lifts the [prosthetic] foot higher. It also has a USB in it, which I noticed when they asked me to test it.”

Pistorius cackles mischievously. “I plugged my iPod into it and this scientist [in Reykjavik] came in. They’re very serious and he shouted: ‘No! You can’t do that!’ I said: ‘Listen, you should put a memory stick in here and I could load my music into my leg.’ I thought it was quite funny; he didn’t. So I took it out but it had charged my iPod. That night we went for dinner and I still had these feet on. I was relaxed and had my legs crossed at the ankles. But, when it was time to leave, it turned out that the batteries in the one foot had gone flat. It wouldn’t move and, of course, this was the foot that had charged my iPod.”

He tells various airport anecdotes about the trouble he has run into with his legs. “At Heathrow the security guys thought my legs were rocket launchers. The worst was in Amsterdam [when Pistorius was suspected of being an international terrorist and handcuffed]. My phone was flat and I’d packed my wallet in my luggage so I couldn’t call anyone or buy any food. In the end they’d only let me go if I got an affidavit from the police station – and I’d just told the police exactly what I thought of them. I had to go back and say: ‘Sorry, I really didn’t mean it – and can I have an affidavit now?’”

Pistorius has also fallen on the track. “We’ve had serious training accidents. Once a bolt came off the back of my leg. The guy who had changed the alignment on my leg had put in a different bolt and it was too short. The bolt stripped out and I hit the deck at 45kmh. The tartan is really dirty and disgusting and I had chunks of it in me.”

How did Pistorius cope when even bigger chunks were taken out of him? “Fifteen is a tough age to lose your mother. It’s strange. In her will she said we must throw a party when she passed away and so we did. We celebrate her every year but we [his brother and sister] make an issue of not calling each other that day and being all morbid. The way we handle her loss is that we’re more grateful for the time we had with her. My father wasn’t around much when we grew up. I saw him seldom – and it’s the same now. He lives and works very far from me on a dolomite mine.”

Do they talk on the phone? “Mmmm, not much. We chat about once a month. He’s a cool guy but he’s more of a mate. He’s not much of a parent. It’s just life.”

Pistorius shows the kind of bracing courage which attracts the glittering eye of Hollywood. Tom Hanks has, supposedly, long been beguiled by the Afrikaner’s Blade Runner story. “Oh, the movie stuff,” Pistorius shrugs. “I enjoy my privacy and so that’s something I never wanted – to be famous. And I like to think the story of my life is not yet over.”

He is already a remarkable athlete but, over the next 475 days, Pistorius might become a truly iconic sporting figure. As he strives to burst on to the Olympic stage with even greater impact than he has achieved as a Paralympian, the 24-year-old is aware of wider responsibilities. “One of my goals is to educate people about disability. I go to a shopping centre after training in my shorts and a kid will stare at my prosthetic legs. The mother or father turns the kid’s face away and says: ‘Don’t stare.’ But they don’t take time to explain it. So I’ll go up to the kid and say, ‘My name’s Oscar and I’ve got these really cool legs. My own legs got bitten off by this huge shark.’ If the mother’s good looking, I’ll say: ‘They fell off because I didn’t eat my vegetables.’ Then I’ll explain it so the next time they see prosthetic legs it won’t be so weird. My disability has never been a negative because the way other people perceive you is the way you perceive yourself.”

Pistorius rightly regards himself as a future Olympic athlete – and a Paralympic champion. “That’s how I want to be seen. I don’t want to be treated differently to any other athlete. If I do badly in a competition I want people to be honest. The same goes if I do well. That’s the only thing that motivates me – the fact that I’m an athlete. I’m a runner.”

Oscar Pistorius is a BT ambassador. He is competing in the BT Paralympic World Cup on 27 May. Tickets are on sale at www.btparalympicworldcup.com

That’s where the feisty iconoclast finds himself these days, though, when he straps on his prosthetic right leg and competes in senior competition — including this week’s 72nd Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

Green, 52, of West Palm Beach, Fla., was a five-time winner on the PGA Tour but also was fined more than two dozen times — once for swigging a beer at the Masters while playing with Arnold Palmer.

He often battled PGA officials, Masters purists and fellow golfers — he was suspended 30 days for calling Raymond Floyd a cheater.

His world changed in June 2009 when the recreational vehicle he was in — he says he doesn’t remember whether he or his brother was driving — crashed after the right front tire blew. The RV went down an embankment near Hickory, Miss., and crashed into a large oak tree.

His girlfriend, brother and dog were killed, and Green suffered injuries that required amputation of his right leg below the knee.

“God has thrown some big asteroids at me,” Green says on his website, kengreenscomeback.com. “And basically you have two choices: you can get squished or you take them on.”

Back to competing

Leg pain and constant headaches don’t allow him to play golf more than once a week, but Green has returned to competition on the 50-and-over circuit. He has played in four events on the Champions Tour since the accident and said recently that he’s “psyched” about being among the 156 golfers who will tee it up Thursday in the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid.

“It will be scary because one thing you never want to do in golf is embarrass yourself,” Green said last month in Savannah, Ga. “I hate to be so blunt, but as golfers that’s what we fear.

“I don’t want to make an absolute fool out of myself. I will absolutely give it everything I have. I don’t want to call it a blessing, but you know every time I go out on the golf course I am just happy to be on the golf course. It does mean everything to me.”

Ken Green

Birth date: July 23, 1958
Joined PGA Tour: 1982
PGA Tour wins (5): Wyndham Championship (1989), U.S. Bank Championship (1988), Canadian Open (1988), The International (1986), Buick Open (1985)
PGA Tour earnings: $3,745,345
Champions Tour wins: 0
Champions Tour earnings: $172,973
Green started to play golf at age 12 when his family moved to Honduras, where his father was the principal of an American school. Three years later, his family moved back to Connecticut. He was born in Danbury, Conn., and he played golf at Palm Beach Community College.

After years of what seemed like endless procedures, the Hudsonville teenager surrendered a portion of her left leg to amputation last Thursday.

Alyssia was a few weeks shy of her 13th birthday when she told her parents it was time to cut off her left leg. How many 12-year olds are faced with a life-altering decision like Alyssia’s?

After weeks of waiting, the day finally arrived late last week for this young girl, rescued from a Ukrainian orphanage, to trade her left leg for the existence of being pain-free for the first time.

Chad and Karen Crook, along with Dr. Jeffrey Ackman, who performed the amputation, started last Thursday by looking to a higher power.

“Lord God, we thank you for the doctors and the nurses, as we know that you’re in control of this situation,” said Chad Crook, Alyssia’s father, during a prayer.

Alyssia, Chad, Karen (Alyssia’s mother) and Dr. Ackman all held hands bedside minutes before Alyssia was wheeled out of her room and down for surgery.

“She even has people praying who never pray,” said Karen Crook.

Chad Crook leaned down and kissed his Alyssia on the forehead, then looked at the medical staff and said, “Take care of my little girl.”

Soon after Alyssia was taken away, Chad and Karen were escorted to a waiting area.

“She’s looking forward to [the amputation],” said Karen. “She was asking Chad, ‘ what’s it like to not have your leg hurt? When she said that, she didn’t mean [the pain from the amputation]; she meant because it’s not throbbing.”

Alyssia’s surgery began around 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Chad and Karen spent the early portion of their wait in a room, but a few hours into the procedure, they found their way closer to where the doctors will come out with some hopeful good news.

The amputation lasted close to three hours after which Dr. Ackman emerged from the surgery and sat around a table with the Crooks.

“She’s doing fine,” Ackman said before he even sat down. “Everything went well.”

Ackman spent close to 15 minutes detailing the entire surgery for the Crooks so they had a greater understanding of how the procedure was done.

Karen Crook couldn’t wait to hug Dr. Ackman, who was the only physician to correctly diagnose Alyssia’s rare condition a few years ago.

Alyssia was wheeled to her recovery room. She was groggy, but aware of her surroundings.

“I’m satisfied,” said Chad. “Things have really gone the way I had hoped and expected.”

A few hours after the surgery, Alyssia was up and moving around, walking with a walker up and down the halls of Chicago’s Shriners Childrens Hospital.

Soon after that, she began therapy so no post-surgery clots would form.

In the five days since her amputation, her recovery rate has stunned the doctors.

Alyssia was fitted with a K-cast pilon and foot Tuesday.

“Shriners has never done a [k-cast pilon] this short from post-operation before,” said Karen. “It’s normally done two weeks post-op.”

Karen tells WZZM that Alyssia walked around on the K-cast like she’s had it forever.

Alyssia was expected to return home Wednesday but her mother says they’re staying one more night in Chicago because Alyssia has been requested to do a few live radio interviews.

“One of the radio interviews is nationwide,” said Karen.

The Crook family hope to be back in West Michigan on Thursday.

Please cut and paste the link to go to the original article where you’ll find a video of Alyssia’s progress: http://grandville.wzzm13.com/news/news/alyssia-crook-recovers-surgery/57627

Less than 48 hours after her surgery, Alyssia found her way to the gymnasium within Chicago’s Shriners Children’s hospital so she could shoot some hoops.

This video was provided to WZZM from the Crook family, who will remain in Chicago with their daughter until later this week when they hope to return to their Allendale home.

Alyssia’s father, Chad Crook, passed a basketball to Alyssla while she glided on a wheelchair and took shots at a lowered basket.

“It just shows that this girl will never give up,” said Karen Crook, Alyssia’s mother.

Alyssia is scheduled to be fitted with a “K-Rod”, which is a preliminary prosthetic limb later this week. The Crooks says Alyssia won’t get her permanent prosthetic for about a month, once her left leg completely heals from the amputation.

In fact, he’s discovered an incredible ability to get so close to such animals that he can cuddle them. He only released his sensitive skill after a bungee jump accident caused him to lose both legs.

The dad-of-two has a particularly special bond with Bonedigger, a seven-foot male lion, who  like John also suffers from a disability due to brittle bones.

‘Bonedigger won’t act like this with anyone else,’ says John as he sits with the 320lb lion draped across his lap. ‘He never shows me aggression at all.

‘When I am having a bad day with my legs, just being with him makes me feel better.

‘I know he knows that we are both disabled.’

John, 43, first came into contact with the big cat through his work at the G.W Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. He bottle-fed Bonedigger, now 18 months old, from birth, and the pair are now the closest of pals.

Speaking about this special bond John added, ‘He’s like a dog and when he hasn’t seen me for ages he gets all excited and runs up to me.’

Nothing about the relationship between the pair is normal; Bonedigger was hand-reared by John along with a tiger named Tony.

‘They used to live with me in the house. I raised them both with bottled formula and raw meat until they grew too big for the house,’ said John.

And even though they’ve moved out Tony and Bonedigger aren’t far from John – the cats share an enclosure next to the house John usually lives in with the other keepers.

‘Tony is perfectly healthy, but is a bit too playful. When Bonedigger senses that I am losing control of the play, he snarls at Tony and you can tell he is being protective and telling him to stop.’

Living on the wild side has always been on John’s agenda, when doing a bungee jump in April 1994, he fell through a faulty trap door from 55 feet, crushing both his legs.

‘I pierced my side with a six inch metal stake too and I asked my friends to call my wife because I thought that was it,’ said the ex-turbine engineer.

‘I broke my hip, my back, and shattered both feet and raked my intestines. Needless to say, I was in a coma for eight days after I reached the hospital. My wife Kristi couldn’t recognise me when she first saw me.

‘When I finally woke up the doctors told me that I would never walk again.’

But John was determined to prove them wrong and not let this terrible accident prevent him from enjoying life, ‘I wasn’t going to accept that fate,’ he added

After five years of painstaking rehabilitation, John learned to use his legs again, and he began to rebuild his life. He and his wife Kristi, 45, had a second son Peyton, 15, six years after their first son, Nathan, 21, was born.

But in the years that followed, John suffered from repeated infections in his left leg and, in 2005, made the incredibly difficult decision to have it amputated below the knee.

‘I was at an all-time low then, but in 2006, on a family holiday, we came across the G.W Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma and everything changed,’ he said.

It was at this park that John bonded with a nine-foot Grizzly bear called Ozzie, little did John know then that this meeting would turn his life around.

John soon began visiting the park once a week from his home in Texas to see Ozzie and spend time with the other animals.

After spotting his frequent visits, a year later, park director Joe Schreibvogel asked John to as a park manager.

In 2009 John suffered another devastating blow, he had an infection in his remaining right leg and chose to have a second amputation.

‘That was another low moment for me because I value my independence highly,’ said John.

‘Bringing up Bonedigger and Tony helped me recover, especially my relationship with Bonedigger.’

Defiant and brave, John was quickly back at work after his second amputation, using high-tech metal legs built by Scott Sabolich Prosthetics and Research.

And John hasn’t looked back since, ‘At the moment I am bringing up three-month-old tiger cubs named Tippy and Orlando. They are keeping me busy and they need to be entertained every day.

‘Tippy likes to play tug of war with my prosthetic legs, which is good, because I guess that would hurt otherwise!’

John is currently at home in Texas with his family as he undergoes further medical treatment for his legs and shoulder but that won’t be the last of his time with the big cats.

While John is away park staff are looking after Bonedigger and Tony. But everyone is looking forward to the return of their inspirational keeper as clearly John is irreplaceable.

Please click on the link to see the amazing photographs of John, Bonedigger and Tony: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1390146/Cuddle-lion-helped-thrill-seeking-double-amputee-live-wild-again.html#ixzz1NFuH5O93

Zoe Gibbs, the Lakeland teenager whose lower left leg was severed in a watercraft collision April 24 on Lake Gibson, faces further amputation because of a persistent infection.

Faith arrived at the Rescue Centre in Rojales in August last year with a severe injury to her lower right leg. Rope had become so tightly wrapped around her leg that it had cut off her blood supply and caused the flesh to fall away and die leaving an open wound in her leg revealing the bone.

Despite their vet, Dorothea’s best attempts, little progress was being made and Sue remembered the story of Molly the pony in America who had a similar injury to Faith’s and had undergone an amputation, a rare but successful procedure.

Sue then contacted Gasper Castelijns; the specialist equine vet in Barcelona who, after much research and debate decided he could do the amputation on Faith’s damaged leg. However, as Faith left for Barcelona, the team decided that new pioneering surgery that had been developed in recent years which effectively makes the bone rebuild itself could be tried on Faith.

The operation was considered a success but just weeks later Faith put too much weight on to her leg causing a fracture to the already weakened canon bone and despite the pioneering surgery Faith had to  have the originally planned surgical operation and amputation of her lower leg.

Sue said, “Everyone at the centre was devastated for Faith and very upset when Gasper, the head surgeon, rang to tell us what had happened. Even though Faith had originally gone to Barcelona to have her leg amputated it still came as a shock.”

This has been the first amputation carried out on a horse in Spain and as Faith settled in to life back at Easy Horse Care, Sue was overcome with delight at seeing the progress she has made. “The difference in this little horse is incredible. She is on no pain killers and is totally pain free and you can see it in her face, its wonderful.”

The Mayor of Rojales and members of the PP/GRIP government team were also present to welcome  the now famous resident back and were fascinated to hear her story and of the work Sue and her dedicated volunteers do at the Rescue Centre. Vet Dorothea was also on hand who Sue thanked for initially saving her life.

Supporter and fundrasier Georgie May said it was really emotional to see her return home, “The centre is such an inspirational place to be. Their work here is phenomenal and to see Faith, how she was and to see her now is amazing. She looks so happy now and is just so well.”

Being introduced to Cookie, Faith will be able to lead a completely normal life and will keep the artificial limb on for 22 hours a day. The one she was wearing was a travelling leg, being slightly longer than normal to take the weight off her leg and to make the journey as comfortable as possible. Rod, who went to Barcelona to bring Faith home said that she was already climbing up banks and hills getting grass and even the vets were amazed at how quickly she had got used to the limb.

Sue added, “The team in Barcelona have said that the amputation was the best solution for Faith even if the other operation had worked there could have been weaknesses and she now uses the leg as if she would a normal leg.

Faith’s Future

Faith now has a long and happy future ahead of her. In the short term she will be left to settle down and get in to routine whilst the team at the centre learn how to care for her properly but then they will  be taking more examples from Molly the pony in America who originally inspired the amputation. Molly has gone on to become a household name throughout the States and an icon to amputee victims.

She travels around children’s hospitals and visits patients having arms and legs amputated as well as soldiers. “It gives them hope.” says Sue, “and I feel Faith could do the same here in Spain.”

Around 8000€ has been needed to cover Faith’s veterinary costs and amazingly almost all of the funds have been raised with just 550€ is to go. “It is truly down to all the support from people who have made it possible and thank you very very much.”

For  more information email rescue@easyhorsecare.net or call Sue on 652 021 980. You can also make a donation via their website www.easyhorsecare.net

Alyssia’s parents, Chad and Karen, are missionaries.  But it was on a personal mission trip to the Ukraine in 2003 that they found the special girl who would become their daughter.

“We had decided a long time ago that we wanted to adopt children,” says Chad Crook. “We told them it was okay if we had a girl with some minor impairments.

The Crooks visited several Ukrainian orphanages, and found Alyssia.

“Standing at the side of the crib looking up at me…those eyes,” Chad remembers. “I knew this was the one.”

A month after finding Alyssia, they brought her home to West Michigan and to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital to repair a sever cleft lip and palate.  Alyssia’s life had improved — or so it seemed.

“We began to notice some things about Alyssia…things about her leg,” says Chad.

Doctors ran a series of tests on her left leg, which revealed a deformity called Popliteal Pterygium Syndrome.  It’s a rare condition that prohibits the legs from developing properly, compromising circulation and causing sharp pain.

It forced the Crooks to make a decision — proceed with a double amputation or try to correct the leg through dozens of operations.

The family chose to fight.

Between medical procedures, Alyssia pursued a dream — playing basketball at Baldwin Middle School.  She tried out and was cut, but she took a spot as a scorekeeper.

Alyssia remained happy, staying active and living life fully — until an old problem resurfaced.  The procedures to repair her legs were not working.

Doctors gave Alyssia another choice.  She could have both legs shortened by eight inches, effectively ending all of her sports activities…or amputate just one leg to save the other.

Alyssia pondered the choice, and then told her mom about a vision she had at school.

“‘I just kind of stared at the table and I saw a boy and a girl playing soccer’,” Karen remembers Alyssia saying. “‘I saw myself playing with them and I had a prosthetic leg.  All at the same time, Mom, I saw that and got it — those were my kids.’

“‘I know now, Mom’,” Alyssia told her mother. “‘I heard from God. It’s my body, my life, my leg, my decision, my choice…and Mom, I am choosing to be a mom that can play with her kids. It’s time to cut off my leg’.”

That time was rapidly approaching, but there was still a chance to fulfill one dream.

Steve Roth, the girl’s basketball coach at Baldwin Middle School, let Alyssia practice with the team.  “We caught her up to speed,” he says. “Then I was thinking, ‘I can do more than just let her practice’.”

That’s when Alyssia was given a jersey and a pair of shorts.

“That’s all this girl needed,” says Karen. “She was in hog heaven just from that.”

Then Alyssia took part in warm-ups before a game.

“We are like, ‘Is she? Is she?” remembers Karen.

“‘Do you think they’re going to…’” said Chad.

“‘No’,” said Karen.

“I can find four or five minutes to get her in a game,” Roth shares.  “I said, ‘Go out there and do the best you can.’ She was tough, scrappy, and fun to watch.”

“That’s all this girl needed,” says Alyssia’s mother, Karen.

Alyssia realized her dream of playing for her Eagles team, and an entire community cheered her on.  She ran with the team up and down the court, and even took a free throw.

“When that thing went through, I just came unglued,” remembers Chad.  “When parents see their kids do something amazing like that, it’s like I might never get a chance to see that again.”

It was a game few would likely remember who actually won, but one where everyone would remember who played.

Alyssia will have her left leg amputated from the knee down on Thursday, May 19, at a Chicago hospital.  She will recover there for three days and then come home to Hudsonville on Monday.  Alyssia will spend a month healing.  Afterwards she will return to Chicago be fitted for a prosthetic and begin rehabilitation.

While the amputation will end the complications with Alyssia’s right leg, doctors say her right leg — which is not as severely compromised — will continue to be evaluated and could be saved.

By Brent Ashcroft

Please click on the link to watch the amazing video of this courageous and inspirational girl:

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/166066/9/Alyssias-choice-A-dream-fulfilled-before-lifes-next-step

It goes without saying that all at the Douglas Bader Foundation wish Alyssia a successful operation and speedy healing and recuperation. We wish her and her family the best of luck for the future and will be hoping, as they are, that the amputation of her left leg will enable the right one to be saved.

The 26-year-old, a Serbian living in Austria known only as Milo, was severely injured in the collision in which he also hurt his leg and shoulder.

He was in his home country on holiday in 2001 when he smashed into a lamppost and although his leg fully recovered, his forearm and hand did not.

Ten years later he has gone under the surgeons knife and he will have a bionic hand fitted to his stump in several weeks time.

Prosthetic: Milo is measured up using his bionic hand prior to the operation

The new hand will be controlled by nerve signals in his arm and the amputation, performed by Viennese surgeon Professor Oskar Aszmann, is only the second voluntary one to have taken place.

‘The operation will change my life,’ he told BBC News.

‘I live 10 years with this hand and it cannot be (made) better. The only way is to cut this down and I get a new arm.’

The hand can ‘pinch and grasp’ in response to signals sent by the brain that would have powered movement in his real hand and it was manufactured by German prosthetics company Otto Bock.

Prof Aszmann said: ‘Milo is now 26 years old and he wants to go on with his life. To biologically reconstruct a hand for him would be a never-ending story and in the end he would still have a non-functional hand.

‘It is in the patient’s interest to provide him with a solution he can live with properly and successfully and so I have no problem with cutting off his hand.’

After his accident his leg healed but his right shoulder suffered from what is known as a ‘brachial plexus’ leaving his right arm paralysed.

Prof Aszmann took nerve tissue from his leg and managed to restore arm movement, but his hand remained unusable.

More muscle and nerve tissue was put into his forearm but while this failed to work it did boost brain signals to his forearm making it possible for him to use a bionic arm.

Milo decided to have the prosthetic arm fitted after using a similar to his dysfunctional hand so that he could see what it was like to have a bionic arm.

He found it so helpful that he opted for the rare procedure.

It was only last year that an Austrian called Patrick became the first patient in the world to decide to have his hand amputated.

The 24-year-old lost the use of his left hand after he was electrocuted three years before. He said he was delighted to experience movement in his new limb moments after it was fitted.

Patrick can now open a bottle quickly and tie his own shoelace with his current prosthesis, which has two sensors fitted over nerves within the lower arm.

However, he is now testing a new hand from Otto Bock that has six sensors giving improved motor function.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1388581/Man-CHOOSES-hand-cut-saying-bionic-one.html#ixzz1MmlSeND1

Auxiliary President Anne Richter with Denney and Stefano.

Fallbrook Post 1924 VFW Ladies Auxiliary is the proud sponsor of wounded serviceman Bren Denney and his Canine Companion for Independence, Stefano. Denney has served in the U.S. Navy for 22 years, doing three tours of duty. In 2008, he had a 30-foot fall while on duty in Singapore and broke his back and both ankles, resulting in eventual amputation of his right foot. After rehabilitation in Singapore and San Diego, he still needs major physical therapy. Stefano responds to approximately 50 commands and helps pull Denney out of a sitting position, with balancing, and retrieves Denney’s prosthetic leg for him. The auxiliary worked for 15 months on this project, raising $10,000 to become a sponsor, and was thrilled to finally meet Denney and Stefano at a recent meeting. Pictured are Auxiliary President Anne Richter with Denney and Stefano.

But Whitley man Martin Bates, who appeared in court via video link from Reading Young Offenders Institution, where he is already serving a 10-week sentence for other offences, was banned for life from owning a dog or having close contact with other animals.

Bates admitted cruelty by using a lead to hit Roxy, a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier he shared with his girlfriend, and then kicking the pup across a road on November 22.

Reading magistrates heard from Paul Green, prosecuting for the RSPCA, that Bates and his girlfriend were walking Roxy when he took her off the lead and she ran away. When the 20-year-old caught the puppy he hit her with the lead and she bit him, breaking the skin on his hand – at which point Bates kicked her in the right side.

His girlfriend called in the RSPCA later because Roxy was screaming in pain, and Bates told them: “I won’t lie, I did boot the dog across the road, but only because it bit me.”

Roxy cowering before the amputation of her leg

The RSPCA took Roxy to Castle Vets in Tilehurst Road, where they found multiple fractures to her femoral joint – connecting the hip and the top of the leg – consistent with a blow of considerable force. Vets had to amputate her rear right leg but Roxy has now recovered sufficiently to be put up for adoption.

Adonis Daniels, defending, said: “To Mr Bates’ credit, he has never denied what took place. He and his girlfriend have said they took the puppy from a neighbour who was mistreating and beating it, and so while we think the kick may have been a contributing factor, it is less likely to have led directly to the amputation.”

Bates, of Lamerton Road, was given a two year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £1,191 RSCPA costs.

After the case, RSPCA Inspector Jan Edwards, told The Chronicle: “We are pleased with the lifelong ban and hope that the outcome shows that the mistreatment of such a young puppy cannot be accepted.”

• Swimmer Natalie du Toit is the first female amputee to ever compete at the Olympics

• She’s won gold medals at the Paralympics and the Commonwealth Games

• South African du Toit plans to retire after the London 2012 Olympic Games

Every week CNN International’s African Voices highlights Africa’s most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera.

(CNN) — A horrific motor accident led to the partial amputation of one of her legs but that was never enough to stop South African swimming heroine Natalie du Toit from realizing her ambitions.

Possessed of natural talent, du Toit had dreamed of competing in the Olympics ever since she was a little girl.

Her rise to athletic stardom began in 1998, when she represented South Africa at the Commonwealth Games at the age of just 14.

But three years later, du Toit’s Olympic dream seemed to shatter when she was hit by a car while riding her scooter. The collision led to the amputation of du Toit’s left leg at the knee.

However, the accident did little to sink her ambitions. Even as she lay in hospital, the then 17-year-old swimmer refused to give up on her dream.

“My parents and a couple of friends kept saying that I was pulling myself up on those triangles that are above the bed, saying that I need to keep training, because my Olympic trials are coming up,” recalls du Toit.

“Back in my mind I never ever wanted to give up swimming, it was something that I would carry on with,” she says.

Imbued with unrelenting spirit, du Toit refused to allow an amputation to deter her from her plans.

After spending several months in physical training she returned to competitions and in 2004 — just three years after her accident — she won five gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Athens.

She finally realized her ultimate goal in 2008 in Beijing, when she made history by becoming the first female amputee swimmer ever to qualify for the able-bodied Olympics.

“Qualifying for the Olympic Games was one of those moments where you just cry because it was like you’ve climbed Mount Everest,” says du Toit.

“It kind of feels like the end of the world almost,” she adds. “It’s a sigh of relief, it’s all the hard work, it’s everything that everybody believed I could do.”

She completed her race finishing 16th out of 24 in the 10,000 meter swim and returned back to South Africa, disappointed in her performance.

In the same year, she won another five gold medals at the Paralympics, marking an amazing comeback for an unyielding athlete determined to follow her dream.

Her unique achievements have turned du Toit into an inspirational figure for many in South Africa and beyond.

Among the first people to recognize her feats was Nelson Mandela, while former South African president Thabo Mbeki praised her for being an inspiration to the nation

And last year, the marathon swimmer was recognized at the Laureus awards for “breaking down the barriers between disabled and able-bodied sport.”

It’s all a far cry from her first moments back into the swimming pool after her accident.

“If you swim able-bodied, nobody says: ‘Ah, she has half a leg we’re going to go slower against her.’”

–Natalie du Toit, swimmer

“I still remembered how to swim, but it was weird doing a tumble turn and only having one leg,” du Toit recalls.

“I got back in and started in the lane with the youngsters and I remember being the youngster beating all the older kids. Now I was the older kid that all the youngsters were beating, so I wanted to move my way up to the fastest lane again, and that was what I did.”

Du Toit says she doesn’t see herself as a disabled swimmer. “It’s quite a tough thing, because if you swim able-bodied, nobody says: ‘Ah, she has half a leg we’re going to go slower against her,’ — nobody.”

Nowadays, Du Toit is preparing for the London 2012 Games, where she says she’s going to perform for the last time on the world stage.

But even though she might be preparing to retire, du Toit is not short of ambition. She’s targeting another Olympics qualification and wants to win all seven races at the Paralympics in order “go out with a bang.”

And when she’s not training, du Toit enjoys spending time in education projects, taking part in initiatives aimed at reducing incidents of drowning in South Africa’s disadvantaged communities.

“I’ve come to realize that it’s important to share knowledge and it’s something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life — to see the youngsters, to see the learning instructors trying to teach these kids how to swim,” says du Toit.

“We have kids that drown in a little bucket of water that’s under a tap, and it’s more the education that we are trying to get out there,” she adds.

“That’s what is important, to pass on those messages, and for people to actually take them up and use them every day.”

Please click HERE to see video of Natalie refusing to give up on her dream

One week away from losing his leg to cancer, 6-year-old Tom became the youngest patient to have pioneering bone replacement surgery. In total, he has undergone 48 operations – and defied doctors’ predictions that he would never be a dad.

Tom McKenzie is every inch the successful man. A happily married 30-year-old from Linton, he runs a thriving recruitment business and has two beautiful children. But getting to this point has been a battle.

When he was just 6 years old, Tom had surgery to save his leg from amputation; since then he’s had a total of 48 operations, meaning much of his life has been spent in hospital.

“Even now my dad says to me ‘if we’d have known that you were going to have to have so many, I’m not sure we’d have still gone through with the original operation’,” says Tom. “But you can’t live your life on ifs, buts, maybes. You just live with what you’ve got, and adapt.”

The story begins when Tom was 5. Skidding around on icy leaves with his friends one day, he fell badly, breaking his left leg. After six weeks in traction it seemed to heal, but six months later Tom’s mum Patricia spotted a bruise above his knee, and then noticed he was dragging his leg when he walked.

He was sent for a scan at Addenbrooke’s, where doctors broke the worst possible news: Tom had Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, and a tumour was growing in his leg.

“I had to have chemotherapy, but to be honest there’s only parts I can remember; I think your consciousness blocks a lot of your memory out,” says Tom. “But it’s strange, I still can’t have Robinson’s orange squash; they’d break the anti-sickness tablets up and put them in it, and even now the smell and taste of it reminds me, and makes me feel ill.”

After 18 months of intensive chemo, the tumour seemed to have disappeared, but Tom’s parents were told that the only way of being sure was to amputate his leg: “and obviously they were devastated”, says Tom.

By chance, Patricia came across a newspaper article about someone in a similar situation: they’d been saved from amputation by having an artificial bone inserted.

It seemed to be the answer to their prayers, and they contacted the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, where the operation had been done.

“I was just under a week away from having my amputation when we were booked in. They hadn’t done a bone replacement on anyone so young before; the person they’d done it on before was in their 20s,” says Tom. “I was only 6.”

During an all-day operation, Tom’s femur was removed, and replaced with an aluminium prosthesis. It was a complete success.

“The first thing I remember was getting out of the bed, and it was like I’d stepped on the moon; my legs were just stuck to the ground because the bone felt so heavy,” he says. “I couldn’t, just couldn’t walk. I had to learn again, like being taught from a baby.”

It was, he says, a frightening experience: “Even now I sometimes have memories in nightmares of what happened during that time.

“But fortunately it was a great hospital; there was a real family-type atmosphere, and that really helps the healing process.”

Tom undergoing chemotherapy and learning to walk again following his first operation

As he grew, Tom had to have many more operations; every six months ball bearings would be inserted into the prosthesis to lengthen it. But problems like infections and dislocations all meant additional surgery, and each time he had to learn to walk from scratch.

“Inevitably I was bullied at school, mainly because I didn’t have any hair when I was having chemotherapy, and then because I couldn’t walk properly. You do get called names, but I didn’t really feel anything, to be honest,” he grins. “Everybody gets called names.”

Did he ever feel sorry for himself? “I suppose I did, but there’s always someone else worse off – you’d turn round and see someone who had had their leg amputated.”

Growing up in hospital became a part of life for Tom. He had lessons at his bedside, and made close friends with fellow patients who were going through the same thing. And Tom admits that, in his younger days, he assumed he’d eventually die there: “A couple of my really close friends died, so I thought well, the end of this is that I’m not going to come out.”

And when Tom was 14, that almost happened. “I’d just had an operation, and when I came home I said I wanted to do my SATs,” he recalls. “l got to the school hall and had my leg up on a chair, and it felt like I kept getting cramp, but 100 times worse than cramp, with pains shooting up and down my leg.”

Tom couldn’t finish the exam and went home in agony. “I was in the bath for hours, because it was the only thing that would calm it down. The local doctors said that it was just because of the operation, but I knew something wasn’t right.”

It wasn’t. Tom had deep vein thrombosis, and it was spreading fast. Eventually he was rushed to hospital “and they said it could’ve been fatal if we’d left it another 24 hours. So I had to have another operation for that”.

The surgery continued, with Tom eventually having a hip replacement. Each time he’d bravely grin and bear it, but one day it all became too much.

“I must’ve been about 16 or 17. I had an operation, and I was about to go home, but the wound wasn’t healing.”

An X-ray showing the prosthesis in Tom's leg

When pus started oozing from his leg, Tom realised it had become infected: “They put me on strong antibiotics, and then they had to take the bone out, clean it, and put it back in again, wrapped in antibiotics to dissolve within the leg to try and kill off anything that was in there.

“That was the worst time that I’ve ever had. I’d gone through all of these operations, and then all of a sudden the leg could’ve gone anyway because of the infection. The doctor came in and said ‘Look Tom, I’m not sure how long we can carry on doing this’.”

Tom had to spend three dark months in hospital: “I just wanted it over, either way. I was being sick every day because of the antibiotics, I was dizzy all the time, and I was missing out on so much – back home all my friends were learning to drive.

“I remember saying to my dad: ‘I just don’t want it any more’. There was no light at the end of the tunnel; all I could see was either amputation or me never getting out.”

But although amputation may have seemed like a good option, Tom could never have had a false leg: “They would have to have amputated to the top of the hip, so there was nothing to attach it to,” he explains. “I’d have had just one leg and been on crutches or in a wheelchair the whole time.”

Fortunately Tom made a full recovery, but not long after he faced another setback when blood tests revealed that, because of the damage done by the chemotherapy, he only had a 10 per cent chance of having children.

“I was devastated, absolutely devastated,” he says.

He needn’t have worried: his girlfriend Becky – now his wife – fell pregnant soon after they’d started seeing each other. “It was totally by accident, but it’s the best thing that ever happened,” grins Tom, who’s dad to Rosie, 8, and Charlie, 5.

It’s now been five years since Tom had an operation, but his problems are ongoing. Seven years ago surgeons tried to insert a bigger prosthesis but failed to get through the scar tissue. “They said it was like cement,” he says.

Because of this, Tom’s left leg is six centimetres shorter than his right, meaning that he suffers from chronic back pain and has to take strong painkillers every day.

Tom has defied the odds and now runs a thriving recruitment business and had two children

But for Tom the worse part isn’t the pain, it’s the fact that he can’t do certain things with Charlie, like playing football: “I can only watch him kick a ball about in the garden, and that’s really hard. He loves football – he must’ve broken about four vases in the house! But I’m always really proud watching him play.”

Today, Tom – who’s terrified of heights – is doing a tandem skydive to raise money for a new playroom at the hospital where he spent so much of his childhood.

“I just wanted to give something back,” he says. “I wouldn’t have got through it if it hadn’t been for Birmingham; it was a home from home. And even now I go back twice a year for check-ups and intensive physiotherapy to strengthen the leg.”

And Tom says he can’t thank the hospital enough for what they’ve done for him. “I feel like I’m the positive side of it all,” he explains. “I do face problems daily: I can’t stand up for long, I can’t help Becky much in the house, and I have to grit my teeth when I walk to work. But I’ve got my own business, I’m married, I’ve got two kids – this is what can happen if you can battle through it.

“I never really sat there and said why me?” he adds. “I’m not going to live for yesterday and what could have happened, I look to tomorrow and what can happen.”

Tom is hoping to raise £2,500 for a new playroom at the Royal Birmingham Orthopaedic hospital. Do donate, visit www.justgiving.com/tmckenzie.

A wounded British soldier is comforted by the grip of a fellow soldier at the Bastion Hospital in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda

Some die here on the operating tables, despite the best efforts of British and American surgeons. Others succumb to their injuries before arrival. What surprised me, given the horrendous wounds inflicted in combat, is that so many sent to Bastion hospital live.

Quantum leaps in battlefield medicine made during a decade at war have contributed to a more than 90 percent survival rate at the British-run facility, which includes a rotation of U.S. Navy doctors among its international staff. The hospital is on the British base in Helmand province adjoining Camp Leatherneck — headquarters for 20,000 U.S. Marines who make up the bulk of the NATO coalition in southwestern Afghanistan.

Many Camp Pendleton Marines have gotten their last look at Helmand from Bastion hospital, which is the busiest trauma hospital in Afghanistan.

Union-Tribune photographer Nelvin C. Cepeda and I spent the final reporting day of our recent six-week trip to Afghanistan at Bastion hospital. Warm spring weather had ushered in another fighting season, and a dust storm the day before gave insurgents cover to hide homemade bombs.

It turned out to be the hospital’s busiest day in months.

First thing that morning, medical evacuation helicopters flew in four Afghan policemen ripped apart by gunshot wounds, then a British soldier with his leg shredded by a grenade blast.

Wave after wave of patients arrived after that. By the afternoon, their scrubs were soaked in sweat and the night shift nurses had been rousted from bed to help. A Navy doctor dozed off sitting against the wall, stealing a few winks until the thump of rotors or the shout of “five minutes!” signaled the next helicopter load of patients.

I don’t know how the Bastion staff find the stamina to maintain their concentration and composure amid this daily onslaught of gravely wounded men, women and children.

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Angela Earley, who finished her general surgery training in 2002 at San Diego Naval Medical Center, took over in October as officer in charge of a new American team at Bastion. The portly Afghan officer she operated on that morning was lucky.

One bullet shot into his belly and exited without penetrating his guts, while another exploded out the side of his leg. Such girth is “unusual for an Afghan,” Earley said. She cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding, sending a contrail of smoke and the smell of burning flesh wafting toward her huge blue eyes. “It probably saved his life.”

Dr. Mansoor Khan, a British medical resident who helped treat the policeman, said “The trauma you see here is unlike trauma anywhere else. If a military-grade bullet hits bone, it blasts out the other side, destroying everything around it.”

On the neighboring operating table, the British soldier’s mangled leg appeared to my untrained eye to be unsalvageable. Three orthopedic surgeons worked on the leg while a plastic surgeon reconstructed his hand and a clutch of nurses and technicians orbited the periphery.

The commanding officer of the hospital, British Army Col. Mark Pemberton, watched over the controlled chaos of his staff rushing to and fro, the blood sloshing on the floor, the sweet smell of plasma and disinfectants, and the hushed voices under fluorescent lights. “Each day is a herculean effort — impossible injuries, impossible conditions, and yet remarkable results,” he said.

Many of these patients would have died in earlier conflicts, before improvements in body armor, evacuation procedures and combat medicine.

Today, life-saving treatments begin instantly on the front lines. Each Marine carries four tourniquets and knows how to use them. Navy hospital corpsmen, medevac flight personnel and forward surgical teams at battalion aid stations all help resuscitate patients, so that breathing is restored and blood loss stops as soon as possible within the “golden hour” of effective trauma care.

As the U.S. military was ramping up in Afghanistan two years ago, Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised troops stationed there that medical providers would be pushed closer to the point of injury so they could administer critical care within an hour, as they were in Iraq.

Today Pentagon officials say that “golden hour” standard has been achieved in Afghanistan, where patients are transported to advanced stateside military hospitals in as little as three days, versus a month or more on average during the Vietnam War.

At Bastion, fresher blood products administered in a one-to-one ratio to replace lost blood reduce the risk of lung problems associated with using saline. Two powerful 64-slice CT scanners produce three-dimensional images of the organs, bones and vascular system, helping doctors pinpoint the most severe injuries rapidly.

Earley and her American team began their deployment at Bastion in October the same month that Camp Pendleton’s 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment took command in Sangin, an intensely violent area of Helmand province.

They performed about 60 leg amputations and more than a dozen to the arm, hand or groin in October. “We had trial by fire very quickly,” Earley recalled. “We had to step it up … to get over the shell shock of what we were seeing and try to save these guys’ lives.”

Earley worked in Iraq in 2007 treating Marines, when it wasn’t as common for those with double or triple limb amputations to survive, she said. (Last year, the San Diego Naval Medical Center treated 31 patients who had lost extremities, three times as many as the previous year.)

But the tissue trauma and contamination caused by insurgent bombs in Afghanistan, which result in wounds embedded with mud and bolts used as makeshift shrapnel, is more severe than she encountered in Iraq; and none of the other doctors on the American team had served in either war zone.

For them, the perseverance of the 3/5 Marines despite heavy casualties was heroic inspiration. “It kept us motivated to keep going,” Earley said. “No one should have to lose so many.”

The international medical team was sponging blood off the policeman’s skin when Earley’s beeper sounded with another trauma call. Six more patients were on the way, including several more British soldiers, a U.S. Marine and a child all hit by insurgent bomb blasts.

The Marine rolled off the ambulance had a deep gash in his arm that had been partially stitched. He was keyed up still from the attack, and belligerent. The British soldier Earley evaluated was in a morphine-induced calm. They cut away his blood-soaked uniform and checked for swelling and shrapnel. Afterward, another soldier leaned over the injured trooper, gripping his fist and talking softly to him for a long time.

The exchange was touching, a private moment between two brothers-in-arms that unfolded while the buzz of medical care moved off to more seriously wounded patients.

When staff got word of several injured Afghan civilians who drove over a roadside bomb, they scrambled to form an all female-unit to treat a woman in the group. Last year an Afghan man murdered his wife after she was treated because foreign men touched her, a British nurse said.

They ended up operating on 18 patients that day, for a total of 38 hours of surgery in four operating theatres.

Two killed in action were flown home from “Rose Cottage,” the hospital mortuary, but Bastion medical staff were grateful that the chaplain didn’t have to say a prayer in the operating room that day for a patient who died under their care. “Sometimes I think it’s as much for us as it is for the soul of the person,” Earley said.

Earley and the others kept working past midnight, some until 3 a.m. They amputated the legs of a British soldier that night, and the first trauma alert beeped the next morning at 7:30 a.m. for another double amputation — on an American Marine.

The U.S. medical team at Bastion was fortified during their tour that ended two weeks ago with the knowledge that they saved lives and improved battlefield care each day they served in Afghanistan, when they helped rewrite treatment guidelines.

“It is unfortunate we have to see so many young men getting hurt for this,” Earley said, but as a trauma surgeon, “this is professionally the most rewarding thing I have ever done.”

By Susan Szalewski
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Leonard Vavra was known as “Crazy Leonard.”

Not just because he started his running hobby in his late 40s, back in the days when nobody went out and just ran.

Not just because he continued running as an old man, no matter what — even when his knee gave him agony.

And it wasn’t because he managed to be cheerful after his leg was amputated, ending his running days.

Other runners called Vavra “Crazy Leonard” because of the way he hooted and yelled when he ran.

It took a lot to keep Vavra down. A stroke ended up taking his life Wednesday, his wife, Delphine, said. He was 82.

Vavra’s hooting, hollering and cheerfulness endeared him to many fellow runners. He was inducted into the Omaha Running Club Hall of Fame in 2007.

He ran 97 marathons and made it to 100 with the help of relay teams that pushed him in a special wheelchair after the amputation.

Vavra knew the power of enthusiasm, especially when complications developed after knee-replacement surgery at age 76. The complications nearly killed Vavra and led to the amputation.

“Enthusiasm is like a fire on a windy day,” he said at the time. “Life can be awfully low if you don’t have some enthusiasm.”

Vavra knew he wasn’t the fastest person. “I’m not a very important runner, never was,” he said. “I have some enthusiasm. That’s how anybody knows me.”

He always was a hard worker, never a quitter, his wife said. At times Vavra worked two jobs to support his six children.

The native Nebraskan was born in Sargent and raised in Ord. He joined the Army right after high school, during World War II, and later served in the Korean War. He returned to Nebraska, moved to Omaha and was married.

The warehouse worker one day began running, ditching his heavy smoking habit. His dog, a Weimaraner named Blue, would tag along.

Delphine, Vavra’s wife of nearly 60 years, let him indulge in his running passion, saying he could have had worse pastimes.

Their children are Debra Ritter of Council Bluffs, David Vavra of Anthem, Ariz., and Douglas Vavra, Dee Elsberry, Don Vavra and Dionne Webber, all of Omaha.

They pushed their father’s wheelchair past the finish line at his 100th marathon in Omaha, in 2007.

Other survivors include 11 grandchildren and a brother, Frank Vavra of Omaha.

A funeral Mass will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Christ the King Catholic Church, 654 S. 86th St. A wake will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Westlawn Hillcrest Memo

"Lambo" before the amputation

It was the first time Mr. O’Malley, who has been practicing for over 40 years, had witnessed a farm animal being born with six legs.

Similar defects in newly-born lambs were reported in Belgium and Turkey in recent years.

Mr. O’Malley stated he had previously attended calves born with two heads and animals born with a multiplicity of tails.

He said the amputation procedure was conducted when the animal was six weeks old.

He revealed: “I received a call from the farmer, who wishes to remain anonymous, shortly after the lamb was born.
“It was an amazing sight. Thankfully the lamb grew stronger and it was not in any way life-threatening to remove the two legs, which were causing the animal some inconvenience.

“The amputation went very smoothly and there was no pain involved for the lamb who responded exceedingly well.
“Lambo is fit, perfectly healthy and can walk without any problems now. I am delighted about that and so is the lamb’s owner.”

Against seemingly overwhelming odds, Matthew has gone on to become an honors high school graduate and is one of 100 Thomas Watson Fellowship winners in the U.S. Having most recently achieved an honours degree in International Relations and Political Science, Matthew now plans to study to become a doctor.

To read more about this indomitable and inspiring character, please click on the link: MATTHEW FINK

On June 16, a woman had gone to a hospital in the Tyrolean town of Sankt Johann for a leg amputation. After the operation, the doctors realised that they have amputated the wrong leg.

According to the prosecutors, the mistake happened when the two doctors were preparing for the operation and it was too late by the time they came to know that they had removed the wrong limb.

The Austrian hospital held human mistake and a failure of safety measures responsible for the mistake.

The surgeon who did the operation had been in practice for the past 25 years, but after this incident he was suspended from his job.

The woman was suffering from vascular disease and had gone to the hospital for the operation, when such an unfortunate incident happened to her.

According to the Agence-France Presse report, the patient who is now 91 years old got her correct leg amputated successfully in a second operation after a few days.

Sunday, 10 October 2010

'I still can't believe I could be part of the greatest sporting event this country has ever seen, in the city I was born,' says Martine Wright

Fifty-two people died in the terrorist atrocities in London on the morning of 7 July 2005, eight on the Circle Line tube train at Aldgate in which Martine Wright was one of the worst-injured survivors, losing both her legs. But since then she has married, had a child, become a pilot and completed a parachute jump. Now, even more remarkably, this bright, spirited daughter of a retired London cabbie is poised to return to the 2012 Olympic heartland in east London where she was born 38 years ago as a member of the British team.

How bittersweet the irony, then, that it is because London won the bid to host the Games that she now finds herself in a wheelchair. The night before had been spent celebrating London’s triumph with work colleagues in Docklands and she overslept, catching a train 20 minutes later than usual. It was to prove fateful, for sitting just three feet away was the suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer.

“The last thing I remember before the bomb went off was jumping up and down that night watching the big screen and thinking, ‘This is fantastic, I’d love to be there but I doubt I’ll be able to get a ticket’,” recalls Wright.

We were chatting in the cafeteria of Roehampton University in South London, where she drives herself from her specially modified bungalow in Tring, Hertfordshire, to train with the GB sitting volleyball squad twice a week. It is just across the road from the Queen Mary Hospital where she had spent eight months rebuilding her body, and her life – appropriately in the Douglas Bader ward, for she has since learned to fly light aircraft, winning a scholarship to South Africa to do so, as well as to ski again on a mono-bob.

Painstakingly she looked back on the horror of that summer morning. “I was sitting in a corner seat reading my paper and talking to people around me. Suddenly I wasn’t talking to them any more. There was a blinding white flash. It felt like I was being shaken from side to side and smacked on the head with a saucepan. It was weird. Then it was just black devastation.

“Initially I thought we had crashed. I was thrown around 90 degrees and the metal casing from the carriage where the bomb had exploded was twisted and tangled in my legs. Everyone was screaming. A man behind me had been electrocuted by live wires hanging from the roof.

“Then someone who turned out to be an off-duty policewoman saved my life. I was saying to her, ‘My name’s Martine Wright. Can you tell my mum and dad I’m OK?’ She gave me a belt and said, ‘Put this round your left leg’. I thought at the time it was like a scene from a Western film when someone had been shot. By then the screaming had stopped because everyone else had been evacuated, or was dying. I was the last person in the carriage and the paramedics had to cut me out. A small miracle saved me that day.”

At this point Martine’s eyes filled and she began to cry. Five years on, and the hurt, emotionally, if not physically, remains etched indelibly and understandably in the consciousness. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s hard talking about it even now. But why I say it’s a miracle is because I could have been sat somewhere else, even further away from the bomber, and been killed. I think I was cushioned a bit in that corner. I lost 10 pints of blood and had to be revived five times on the operating table. I was in a coma for 10 days. My family and my boyfriend Nick [now her husband] didn’t know where I was for almost two days, I had no identification on me.” Among friends assisting in the search was Jackie Larcombe, with a “Missing – can you help” placard.

“My family were going round all the hospitals but no one knew anything. Finally at midnight the following day they turned up at the Royal London again and insisted I must be there. I haven’t asked my mum and dad what was going on in their minds. It’s still a dark place for them. All I know is that they were put in this room for families who had loved ones missing. Eventually they were told there were three survivors, two women and a man.

“By then the police knew who I was because I had been reported missing and they had been to my flat and got DNA from my hairbrush. But someone still had to identify me. My brother and sister went into the room but they said, ‘It’s not her’. They said later they couldn’t recognise me because my body was about twice its size and the colour of my skin had changed. But the police knew it was me and asked for my mum and dad to go in, and my mum then said she recognised me from my eyebrows.

“My legs had already been amputated above the knee and I also nearly lost my arm. When I woke up, all I remember is looking down at the bed-sheets and there was nothing there. I burst into tears, crying, ‘I’ve got no legs’. My mum cuddled me, saying, ‘You are still here, you are still Martineand you can get new legs’.”

Following the double amputation Martine learned how to walk again using prosthetic legs each weighing a stone. But she says sport was the catalyst to her astonishing recovery. “When I lost my legs I needed a goal. Before I got into the rat race in London [she was a marketing manager in an international online company] I was quite sporty. I played netball at school and hockey at university. I’ve always been intensely competitive and there is no doubt that sport motivated me in my rehabilitation.”

Two years ago she attended a trial for Paralympic sport at Stoke Mandeville. “I started with wheelchair tennis but it was this comparatively new sport of sitting volleyball that really attracted me. What I like about it is that you are not in a chair, which is fantastic because I am not paralysed. I can move, in fact I can move very fast.

“The rules are the same as in standing volleyball, though the net is lower. You have to keep your bottom on the floor all the time and shuffle along. You are constantly moving.

“Also, I am very much a team person. There are about 16 of us in the squad and they are a great bunch of girls, some of them amputees, some with lesser disabilities. But just as I was getting into it, I got pregnant and didn’t play for a year. After my son was born, I heard they were trying to put a women’s team together for 2012 and our first international was actually in the World Championships in Oklahoma.” By chilling coincidence the day she flew out was 7 July 2010; it was also the date Oscar had been due last year but he was a week late.

“We had only had a GB team for eight months but we really surprised ourselves by getting some results. We actually won against Canada, who had been together for three years.

“I still can’t believe, two years away, that I could be part of the greatest sporting event this country has ever seen in the city where I was born. But sport has healed me and this is the goal I can grasp.”

Was there ever a time when she despaired of her future? “No, really, no. I have such an amazingly supportive family and I have Nick. Sure, I had bad days. You’re bound to when you go through something so traumatic and your life is turned upside down. Obviously you have your memories of what you did before and you have to deal with those. You have to think, ‘All right, I’m never going to do it like that again, but I am going to do it in a different way’. Sometimes when I see people running for a bus I think, ‘I’m never going to be able to do that’. But then, that person is never going to represent their country like I am and they can’t fly a plane. I can.”

Martine has succeeded Sir Geoff Hurst as ambassador for Typhoo Sports for All, a project that helps to make sport more accessible for the disabled. “I am meeting other potential Paralympians and seeing how sport can help you through trauma.”

With 2012 looming, Nick, also 38, an award-winning landscape photographer, is going part-time next year to help look after their son while Martine concentrates on achieving her golden goal. They married in 2008 and Oscar is now 14 months old.

When she returned to work for a few months, Martine had to drive past Aldgate every day. “At first it made me sick but then it became part of the healing process. I haven’t got on a train or a tube since that day but I will, though I’ve said to Nick it has to be Eurostar – first class – going somewhere nice.

“For a while, all my thoughts about London were negative but now to be able to go back and do something so positive, well, it’s like a dream. If someone had said to me five years ago when I woke up in that hospital bed without my legs that I would become a mum, fly a plane and be part of 2012, I’d have said they were off their rocker.”

24 hours London can’t forget

In Singapore, London’s jubilant Olympic bid team had danced and sung the balmy night of 6 July 2005 away until the early hours in joyous celebration of their triumph – even Princess Anne lustily joined in the chorus of Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner. Bleary-eyed, a group of us sat later that afternoon having a cup of tea in 2012′s Swissotel HQ when an ashen-faced Ken Livingstone, carrying a shopping bag, walked in and whispered into the ear of the then BOA chief, Simon Clegg. As the mayor walked briskly towards the lifts, Clegg followed, saying simply: “There’s been an incident in London.” Within minutes the horrific news of the rush-hour bombings – there was a seven-hour time difference between London and Singapore – was flashing up on the TV screens. Euphoria evaporated, obliterated by despair. Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, immediately arranged for the homecoming celebrations to be cancelled while Livingstone, in one of his most impressive moments, emerged from his room, shaking with anger, to tell the world: “This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter.” In 24 hours, London’s dream victory had been shattered by a terrifying nightmare.

Alan Hubbard

The Typhoo Sports for All campaign aims to increase participation in sport and ensure that disabled people can access the sport or physical activity of their choice. For more information, visit www.typhootea.co.uk

A fantastic achievement, Philippe, you have the Bader spirit in spades. Your courage will inspire many – amputees and non-amputees alike.

Frenchman Philippe Croizon, who lost both arms and legs in an electrical accident in 1994, successfully swam across the English Channel yesterday in just under 14 hours, using a snorkel affixed to his face as well as some specially designed prosthetic flippers.

Philippe Croizon

Croizon, who trained more than 30 hours a week for two years for this attempt, had been hoping to make the swim in roughly 24 hours. Instead, he made the 21-mile crossing from Folkstone, U.K., to Wissant, France, in just over half a day.

Back in 1994, Croizon made his living as a French metal worker when he climbed the roof of his house one day and made contact with a nearby power line. His life-threatening injuries required the amputation of all four of his limbs, although that hasn’t kept Croizon from living his life.

In fact, you’ll likely soon find his name on the official list of Channel-swim record-holders.

Read More http://www.wired.com/playbook/2010/09/channel-swim-amputee/#ixzz10AjlzbQq

Click HERE to see the article with a pretty action-packed trailer.

Bob Wilson, the executive director of the N.A.G.A., developed the First Swing program in 1988.

The National Amputee Golf Association announced this year that it was opening its national championships to men and women with disabilities other than a major joint amputation. Blind golfers and golfers with various physical challenges or mobility limitations can now compete as associate members of the amputee association.

The national championship and senior championship are Sept. 7-10 in Nashville.

“An able-bodied golfer can enter, too,” said Bob Wilson, the executive director of the N.A.G.A.

You had better bring a good short game.

The amputee association, founded in 1954, sponsors dozens of tournaments around the country and works to take the game to disabled players across the country. Its First Swing program, operated with the Disabled American Veterans and the P.G.A. of America, provides one- and two-day seminars and clinics to train health-care and golf professionals on how to use adaptive golf as a rehabilitative tool for people with a range of disabilities.

Wilson, who developed the First Swing program in 1988, said the association conducted about 30 clinics yearly.

“There is so much that golf can do as rehabilitative therapy,” he said. “For one, if you can walk, it’s aerobic and nonimpact. It gets you outside in a beautiful setting instead of just rolling an exercise ball around in a rehab gym. In four hours on the course, you’ll use every muscle group. It engages your brain. There is the camaraderie of other players. And maybe most of all, you can develop a sense of accomplishment and achievement. Who does not benefit from that?”

Wilson, who lost his legs in an aircraft carrier accident as a Navy officer in 1974, added, “Our association is actually an amputee support group that meets on the golf course.”

Which is not to say that there aren’t some mighty impressive golfers at the gatherings. Wilson recalled how years ago, he received a call from a trick-shot artist who wanted to perform for a fee at the association’s next national championship.

“Will you hit balls with one arm?” Wilson asked.

“You bet,” the trick-shot artist replied.

“Will you hit balls standing on one leg?”

“Absolutely.”

Wilson said, “We will have plenty of those folks performing already.”

The amputee association is also active in the effort to improve access to golf courses for disabled golfers. It’s a cause often met with resistance because courses frequently have to allow the use of specially equipped single-rider carts — or, even better, have single-rider carts included in the cart fleet available for rent. But some notables are aligning themselves with the movement. Jack Nicklaus has donated his time to redesign and expand the American Lake Veterans Golf Course outside Tacoma, Wash. The 18-hole layout will accommodate disabled golfers.

The N.A.G.A. presses on, sponsoring the Eastern Regional Amputee Golf Championship this Friday through Sunday near Philadelphia. There are tournaments around the nation; for a schedule, go to nagagolf.org.

I asked Wilson last week if an amputee tournament was much different from the average club championship.

“Well, there’s probably a lot more talk about prosthetics,” he said. “But otherwise, maybe not. I have had a lot of people tell me they are better golfers now than before they lost a leg or an arm.

“We do have a lot of people who know how to recover from tough situations.”

By Bill Pennington for the New York Times Golf Blog

This is a story that we have no doubt Douglas Bader would have endorsed wholeheartedly!

As before, The Games is aimed at primary amputees (people who have undergone an amputation within the last 1-4 years)  and will give them an opportunity to experience a wide variety of sports, taught by specialists from the individual sports governing bodies and associations. They will take part in 13 different sports both recreationally and competitively: providing them with a pathway to join the individual disability sporting associations after the games, where they can progress their skills.

Again as always, this promises to be a fantastic and rewarding weekend both for participants and visitors and you can find out more by clicking HERE to open the downloadable Press Release.

The Douglas Bader Foundation is proud to support the Amputee Games and will feature updates as they occur so please keep checking in for more information.

If you have any trouble downloading the page or you’d simply like more information, please contact:

Catherine Booth cathy.booth@welbeckwealth.com or Kiera Roche at kiera@limbpower.com.

If you have any queries, please contact Simon Johnston via the Website below.

http://www.teamanglia.ukcentre.com

Press Release 5th July 2010

Please note that Team Anglia GB has now seperated into 2 projects offering exciting football opportunities to various groups at elite level through out the region and as such to avoid confusion we have redesigned and launched our website to reflect this.

Please see our 2 catagories below and we would be gratefull if you could help us promote these opportunities to the Regions youngsters as soon as possible.

1. Amputee Football Project

In support of the EAFA (England Amputee Football Association) and regional Ability Counts Projects we offer training and National League matches to people in the Region who have been born with a congenital limb disorder or have suffered an amputation through Injury at War, Cancer or accident.  This is the corner stone upon which Team Anglia GB was launched, this project will continue to be run by Simon Johnston.

2. The Route Back Project

Our Newly Launched Route Back project is an exciting initiative for main stream able bodied young footballers in the Region.  We are seeking to recruit players between the ages of 15 & 22 years of age from the following backgrounds.  County players & Trialists who did not make the squads, Ex Academy footballers and players who have trialled at Acdemies but for whatever reason were unsuccessful, Player Development Centre Players who have reached the age limit and have no further opportunity for development, talented footballers who have not been noticed by the regions scouts.  These players are being offered twice weekly training session in brand new state of the art facilities for the 2010/11 season and a minimum of 16 matches against the Nations Acdemy squads for their repective age groups, With Manchesdter United, KK Dons & Wolverhampton Wanderers now offereing fixtures for these teams.  We welcome Rob Taylor to Team Anglia GB who will overseer of this project.

Thank You for your time taken to read this and please let as many relevant people know as possible about the exciting opportunities Team Anglia GB are providing through the East of England for its young and talented footballers.

Kind Regards

Simon Johnston

The Douglas Bader Foundation is very honoured to have been chosen as one of Phil Packer’s 26 beneficiary charities for the forthcoming Virgin London Marathon 2010 on the 26th April.

Each of the 26 charities in Phil Packer’s “26″ project have been asked to choose a young representative between the ages of 16 and 25 who will walk for one of the 26 miles by his side and then join him and the other 25 representatives for the last 365 yards before crossing the finishing line together.

We are delighted to announce that our representative will be Adam Layer who will walk MILE 4 with Phil Packer.

Adam, 18, was selected by the Foundation because of his ongoing support of the charity and his determination to overcome his disability.

Adam Layer with Lady Bader and Phil Packer

At the age of 3, Adam was given his first artificial leg at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield and took to walking on it immediately. Now, 15 years later Adam uses a dynamic foot setup and continues to receive treatment at the Northern General Hospital which is over 100 miles away from home.  Unfortunately during the last 6 months Adam has been having continual problems with his prosthetic leg.

At 16 Adam passed his driving test and now drives an adapted car fitted with a left foot accelerator.

Adam is currently studying a course in Aerospace Engineering at Bedford College with the hope of entering the industry as a maintenance engineer in the near future. He decided to pursue this career after developing a passion for aircraft in his early teens, and as a result of this joined the Air Training Corps.  He has been promoted to the rank of Cadet Flight Sergeant, gained five hours of flying experience and has participated in a wide range of other activities. He is a proficient shooter, has experienced gliding and is now very involved in the instruction of cadets.

‘Douglas Bader has always been my role model when dealing with my disability’ commented Adam

♦ PLEASE SUPPORT ADAM AND THE DOUGLAS BADER FOUNDATION ♦

You have until the 26th April to  donate for that important  Mile 4 by visiting Phil Packer’s Website and clicking on Mile 4:

http://www.philpacker.com/

or by clicking on the link below:

MORE INFORMATION:

Please click on the link to be taken to get more information from the dedicated PHIL PACKER “26″ Event Page

If you were born without a limb or have suffered an Amputation or loss of use of a limb you are able to join the Region’s Elite Squad.

Compete in the Amputee National Football League.  Challenge for Honours and Trophies.  Meet new friends across the UK and Stake your Claim for a place in the England Amputee Squad to compete Internationally for the Amputee World Cup.

For more information and to check out the Website, please click on the link:

http://www.teamanglia.ukcentre.com

Team Anglia are currently looking to recruit players and raise funds.  Any help with finding a Home Ground would be appreciated too! Please contact the team through the Website if you can help this worthwhile venture.

We are very grateful to Tracey for allowing us to publish her story on the Website and wish her the best of luck with her plans to teach the dance and to run workshops for limb user groups.

If you would be interested in either or would like more information, please contact Tracey through her Website address below.

How I Returned to ‘Barefoot’ Dancing After Losing my Left Leg Below the Knee

By Tracey Jones

In June 2007 I was riding my Yamaha XV535 custom motorbike along the A342 from Devizes to Chippenham when a car pulled out in front of me and changed my life forever.

I had spent the previous night with my new partner at Stonehenge for the summer solstice. It was our third date and I was hooked! I had met him in my work, as a professional Arabic Dancer, when I had performed at his local pub in Devizes for a hen party. We had hit it off straight away, it felt like we were meant for each other.

The initial impact crushed my left foot and ankle and this resulted in the amputation of my left foot just above the ankle. My partner, Neil was the first one by my side and he has never left it since.

I had to lie in the hospital bed for a week before the final surgery took place and then my limb was shortened to 4” below the knee. I couldn’t take that in because I did not understand why I had to be customised to fit a limb, surely it should be the other way around?

All this time I was in kind of a dream state. I was high on painkillers and morphine and the support from friends and family and Neil was comforting. I was still in shock and remained that way for a long time afterwards.

It was too much to think about my returning to dancing. I would dream about dancing in my sleep, and there I would still have both legs. When I woke up the realisation hit that it was just a dream. In November 2006 I had won the UK National Belly Dance Competition and was gaining respect and standing in the dance community. Now I felt like a broken thing.

I busted my leg open twice before I got fitted for a prosthetic and this seriously knocked my confidence and so I didn’t move around so much, or so confidently. I still had fantastic core stability and balance from my dancing but that didn’t help me when I fell. Stupid silly things, one minute your up the next your down. I wasn’t used to not having a leg to land on so I automatically put it down and dropped on it like a stone!!

When I finally healed enough to get fitted for a limb at my local NHS center, the limitations of prosthetic limbs was conveyed to me. The fact that one limb does not do everything was a shock. I had to decide what was most important. The prosthetist fitted me with quite a hard springy foot, as I was an active person. The process of learning to walk, being independent that was the starting point.

Before I was fitted I was desperate to get a limb, once I had it I cried and cried, it hurt so much and I was still on crutches. I hated having to put it on first thing in the morning. I delayed getting up and would lie in bed dreading it. I had been told I would ‘get used to it’ it ‘would become normal’. Back then I could never imagine it not in a million years. Sometimes I would throw it across the room in anger, only to have to retrieve it if I wanted to ‘function’.

The hard springy foot was all I had for two years and I hated the way it tipped me around on rough ground. It proved useful when climbing up steep Welsh Mountains though! I found if I put the spring down first instead of the heel I could ‘bounce’ a bit.

I wanted to push myself and the limits of my prosthetics to see what I could do. The thought of doing something could put me off before I’d even tried and then after I’d done it, my confidence went up a bit more.

What didn’t help the fitting of my limbs initially was getting pregnant! but what a blessing that was, I now have a 15 month old son, who needs me and needs me to be strong and happy. Needless to say throughout the pregnancy I had a nightmare with my limbs. It didn’t help matters moving and having to change limb centers either.

After I had the baby I was determined to get active. As a qualified horse riding instructor I knew that I could do horse riding.

One day I went horse riding and ended up tripping on the stoney track to the riding center and broke my arm! My prosthetic was out of alignment and I was making do, but this was a disastrous consequence. I still went out for a ride with one arm in my pocket, but afterwards I couldn’t even put my own leg on or pick up my baby for 6 weeks!! This was a real low point.

It took so long for my residual limb to settle down, it wasn’t until November 2008 that I got a decent fit. I started to work out a bit at home and dance around the house. I got another leg made so I could set one to flat to dance on at home. The hard springy foot was no good for Arabic Dance though, it had no lateral movement in the ankle which is essential.

Another problem was that for some reason the surgeon had cut a bit more off than the prosthetists would have liked. 6” would have been great. I was told I may never have great control of my limb because of this. I was also told a suction socket would be best to help that problem and the socket was built up a bit more around the knee. The problem was that this reduced my knee function too much to dance properly.

I thought about the fluidity of Arabic dance, and the balance and flexibility and the need for good strong feet, the problems that just didn’t seem to be addressed in such a way that would allow me to return to my love of dance.

I knew that the best way for me to truly get my fitness back was to start dancing again. It would build up my wasted thigh muscles and buttocks and my core muscles would become stronger again. It was time to go private and get what tools I needed for the job!!

I went to Kevin Shaw, a very good prosthetist at Dorset Orthopaedic. It took many many fittings to get the pin lock socket to work. I have a conical shape to my residual limb which means I can slip into the socket very easily. It took a long time working out how to stop that happening without building up the acrylic so severely around the knee.

I tried out a couple of different feet and ended up with a College Park “Tribute” foot from RSL/Steeper. This was a good compromise between lateral flexion and plantar energy return. Basically it mimics the natural barefoot dance that I do as closely as we could find.

Also I wanted a silicone cover so it looks good, you don’t see belly dancers with carbon tubes for legs do you? The weight got some getting used to but I wasn’t about to compromise on the look. I wanted to feel whole again! Not to mention beautiful when I dance.

Luckily Egyptian dance is a heavy, earthed dance which relies on strong core stability to execute the turns and spins and movements, not the legs. If it had been any other dance, I might not be able to still dance at the level I do. I can do Egyptian style arabesques, but if it was ballet, you could forget it!!

What I have found in returning to dancing is that one of my biggest fears was completely wrong.

As a qualified fitness Instructor I knew how important balance in the body is. My biggest fear was that I might become too ‘one sided’ and that my right leg would take too much of a beating by doing all the work. This is completely NOT the case!

The dance is always done on both sides of the body and so if you complete a sequence of moves to the right, you will likely then repeat the sequence of steps to the left.

As a result of returning to Arabic Dancing my left leg has built up again nicely and continues to improve. I have found nothing else that works the quads (muscles just above the knee) quite like it largely because of the hallmark ‘shimmying’ movement which involves standing up with straight legs and then bending one knee and then the other, working up to a nice rhythmic speed.

My buttocks have evened out nicely and my back and stomach have become stronger which has improved my overall posture.

My reaction times, control and balance have all improved greatly and the side effect of all of this is that I am much more agile and able to use a variety of prosthetics, adapting to each suspension system and hardware with relative ease.

Therefore everyday life has become a lot easier and I feel much more ‘normal’.

I go mountain biking with my family, out for walks, jog along with my kids and dance four hours a week.

My confidence levels have soared without feeling like I might trip or fall, although I am still very careful. I do not rule out the use of a stick on very uneven or steep ground I do not let this detract from the enjoyment of my pursuit. Nor do I think ahead of problems that might put me off giving things a go. I am much more spontaneous.

All in all, Arabic dance has helped me get back to a fitter, stronger, more adaptive body in a fabulously fun and glorious way!

I am performing again for the dance community and teaching the dance to able bodied women.

I dearly would love to run workshops for limb user groups. As a fitness instructor, I always advocated the physical benefits of the dance. They are huge. As a prosthetic user, I would highly recommend this dance to help build balance and core strength and re-build weakened muscles.

On a more personal level, it lifts the spirits, builds confidence and celebrates the individual, and on this note I would like to end with one of my favorite quotes;

“There are shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them”.- Vicky Baum.

For further information visit Tracey’s website: www.liveyourspirit.co.uk

Please click on the following links to see recent films of Tracey dancing since her amputation. If the films inspire you to take up dancing and reap the related benefits to poise, fitness and balance so clearly demonstrated by Tracey, she’d be delighted to hear from you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iMo5eMNkWE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd9CvxoCWzc

By CRYSTAL CHAN

Madam Teo Siew Kim with her husband, Mr. Ong Or Thor

IT’S A typical evening and the family of four sit at their table, having dinner.

Three have cutlery in their hands.

Only one, in a wheelchair, eats with cutlery stuck to her magnetic hand gloves.

Such moments remind Madam Teo Siew Kim, 60, of what she has lost – both her hands and her lower limbs to gangrene.

Before, the feisty Madam Teo was adamant that she would not amputate her limbs after they turned gangrenous, even though doctors had told her she could die if she did not seek treatment.

The limbs became gangrenous after complications arose while Madam Teo was treated for septic shock.

‘I had said that amputation would be a last resort. But looking back, holding on to my limbs was futile as they were rotting away and had lost their functions,’ she said.

‘My family also had to wear masks when they cleaned my wounds, as the flesh was so smelly.’

In the end, it took a high fever to change her mind.

On 11 Nov, Madam Teo was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) with a high temperature – 39 deg C.

Doctors there were concerned the limbs had become infected and advised her to have an amputation.

TTSH doctors who cared for Madam Teo told The New Paper that without amputation, her life could be in danger.

Speaking to The New Paper in Mandarin, Madam Teo recounted: ‘The fever was unbearable. The heat seemed to be moving up my legs to my head. I also began shivering as I started feeling cold too.’

Doctors amputated her limbs on 16 Nov and she was discharged on 3 Dec. The amputation saved her life. But she now struggles with how her life has changed.

‘My family has been supportive, so emotionally, I’m okay,’ said MadamTeo, who has been unable to do chores or continue volunteering in Chinese temples.

‘But at times, I feel bad when I see how my situation has turned my family’s life upside down. My husband and daughter took unpaid leave to care for me.’

Still cheerful

The New Paper visited her at their four-room flat in Pasir Ris on Tuesday. During the two-hour interview, the petite woman displayed the same cheerfulness she had shown during our first meeting three months ago.

Madam Teo said: ‘I want to thank the TTSH doctors for their care and concern after my limbs were amputated. They focused not only on my physical condition, but also my emotional welfare.’

But she turned serious when she talked about how she has been coping since the amputation.

She said: ‘I was a perfectly normal person before this and I thought gangrene happened only to diabetics. I’ve never had diabetes or other chronic illnesses.

‘Sometimes, I ask what is the point of saving me if it means I have to lose my limbs.

‘Apart from eating, I can’t do anything. My husband brushes my teeth, dresses me and bathes me.’

The family is considering fitting Madam Teo with prosthetic legs so she can at least stand, but TTSH doctors said that it would still be difficult for her to walk. The doctors said: ‘She has also lost all her fingers and she can’t hold on to a walking frame to help her to walk.’

As Madam Teo’s arms are intact save for her amputated fingers, she cannot have prosthetic arms.

Madam Teo’s sister, Siew Lian, 56, visits regularly to help with the cooking while her husband’s younger brother pays the maid’s salary.

Her husband, Mr Ong Or Thor, 64, has been on unpaid leave from his job as a part-time driver since her limbs turned gangrenous.

Every day, he spends an hour dressing her wounds. He and the family’s Indonesian maid carry her to her motorised wheelchair when she wakes every morning.

Their daughter, Hwee Peng, 34, a civil servant, returned to work sometime in October, while their son, Kok Heng, 36, is an odd-job worker.

Mr Ong said: ‘No one wanted this to happen to my wife. But since it has happened, we just have to cope.

‘We intend to send my wife for occupational therapy so she can learn to do some simple tasks on her own.

‘But we’ll take things one step at a time.’ ]]> http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/2009/12/15/i-turned-my-familys-life-upside-down/feed/ 0 http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/2009/12/03/weymouth-hotelier-fears-he-may-lose-foot/ http://douglasbaderfoundation.com/2009/12/03/weymouth-hotelier-fears-he-may-lose-foot/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:36:53 +0000 wendy http://douglasbaderfoundation.co.uk/?p=2064 7:30am Thursday 3rd December 2009 By Diarmuid MacDonagh » A HOTELIER faces having his foot amputated after an allegation of misdiagnosis at Dorset County Hospital. David Knight, from Weymouth, is now seeking compensation from the crisis-hit Dorchester hospital. He claims that he now faces an uncertain future following the failure to diagnose a condition known [...]]]> 7:30am Thursday 3rd December 2009

By Diarmuid MacDonagh »

A HOTELIER faces having his foot amputated after an allegation of misdiagnosis at Dorset County Hospital.

Weymouth Hotelier, David Knight

David Knight, from Weymouth, is now seeking compensation from the crisis-hit Dorchester hospital.

He claims that he now faces an uncertain future following the failure to diagnose a condition known as Charcot foot.

He claims that when he first attended the hospital there did not appear to be enough staff to cope and that hygiene was well below standard.

Mr Knight, 57, is now reliant on crutches to get around and is likely to have to undergo further surgery and possibly amputation of his right foot. He claims that if the condition had been diagnosed correctly he would not have suffered the health problems and possible surgery he now faces.

Mr Knight, said: “I only wish that the treatment I received in 2007 was as good as I have been getting recently in 2009 from the Diabetic Clinic.

“It has been brilliant. I had no idea what to expect in 2007 when I attended with my problem foot. If the treatment had been up to the standard it is now, then I would not be in the position I now find myself in.

“What did strike me back in 2007 was the lack of nursing staff and the ones that were there were rushed off their feet, although surprisingly there seemed to be a lot of administration staff around.

“The nurses didn’t have time to care for patients and the ward was well below standard in the cleanliness stakes.”

Mr Knight’s claim is being brought by clinical negligence specialist Tom Cook at solicitors Kester Cunningham John.

He said: “Mr Knight began seeking medical advice for problems relating to his feet back in 2002, the same year as he was diagnosed with diabetes.

“He had problems first with a swollen toe, then with increasingly troublesome ulcers. His more serious symptoms emerged in January 2007, when he was sent by his GP to the Dorset County Hospital. “In early February he attended a podiatry clinic at his GP’s surgery where the nurse told him she believed he had a Charcot foot, and referred him to the diabetic foot clinic at the hospital the following day.

“When he attended the clinic, the nurse’s diagnosis was contradicted rather than confirmed. “This was the start of over two months of delay prior to proper diagnosis, during which time the condition of the foot deteriorated substantially.

“Had the hospital confirmed in early February or even March that Mr Knight had Charcot foot, he could have been treated appropriately and would, in the opinion of our experts, have a usable foot and substantially less pain.

“By bringing this claim Mr Knight hopes to obtain sufficient compensation to enable him to have a similar quality of life to the one he would have had if he had been diagnosed and treated earlier and not lost the use of his foot. “He also hopes the claim will prompt the hospital to improve its procedures so that others don’t find themselves in the same position.”

A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital said: “This is an ongoing legal claim and therefore we cannot make any comment about the case at this time.”

Being a stork is hard work. Not only do you have to collect enough frogs and other delicacies to keep you going during the day, but you also have to fly to Africa and back once a year — and deliver babies to new parents the world over. What’s a bird to do if it gets injured?

Dietmar, a stork in the German state of Saxony, was confronted recently with exactly this problem. In August, Dietmar arrived in a bird reserve located between Dresden and Leipzig suffering from a broken leg. The sanctuary staff did everything they could to help Dietmar, but in the end the limb had to be amputated. However it has now been replaced with a carbon prosthesis.

Regular Physical Therapy

Andrea Kirsten, who works at the preserve, speculated in the tabloid Bild that Dietmar may have flown into a high tension wire. The artificial leg, which was funded by donations, cost over €1,000 ($1,500) and is protected from mud and dirt with a baby sock.

While Dietmar’s wings have been clipped so that he can’t leave the sanctuary — he likely couldn’t survive in the wild — the stork receives regular physical therapy. His meals, which consist of thawed-out frozen baby chickens, are delivered directly to his beak.

Dietmar will now have to spend the rest of his life in his new home. But Kirsten is doing her best to make his life tolerable. According to Bild, she plans to build him a nest in the hopes of attracting a mate next spring.

November 10, 2009, 5:30AM

After losing part of his left leg following a 2004 motorcycle accident in Birmingham, Chris Osborne started helping people who faced amputation or were having a tough time dealing with losing a limb.

Former TV reporter, Chris Osborne by Voncille Williams

His visits to hospital rooms became a ministry of sorts for him.

“I am honest about the journey, but reassure them of the benefits of making the most out of their life,” said Osborne, who underwent six weeks of physical therapy and learned how to use a prosthetic leg. “Every visit is ended with a prayer for their strength and the opportunity to thank God for their life and for their restoration.”

Now, his message is going national.

Osborne, 37, of Forestdale will be one of 10 people who will share stories of triumph in Mutual of Omaha commercials slated to air in spring 2010. The commercials are part of the company’s Aha Moment Campaign that highlights inspirational stories.

The company visited 25 cities earlier this year and made 1,000 tapings. Osborne, three sisters and a woman from Birmingham were among 75 semi-finalists selected for the first round of voting in an early October online contest.

A second round of online voting with 25 candidates happened in late October. The top 10 favorites were announced this month.

“I’m extremely honored that so many people thought enough about me and my story to vote,” he said. “There were some really incredible ‘Aha Moments’ from people here in Birmingham and around the country.”

Osborne, a former reporter for ABC 33/40, currently handles public affairs for the American Red Cross in Birmingham.

He said that when he had his accident, his left leg was amputated above the knee. After physical therapy, he got around with the help of two crutches, then one crutch, then a cane before he was walking with no assistance.

“Everything is normal. The only difference is it takes a little longer to get up stairs,” he said. “I have very few limitations.”

He got married in 2007, and had a son in July. He also drives, plays golf, hunts deer, goes boating, stays active with his Omega Psi Phi Fraternity brothers, is a member of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and rides a motorcycle.

“I still understand the risks of riding a motorcycle, but it’s something I do enjoy,” he said. “It’s a part of me.”

To see Chris Osborne’s clip and the other  nine winning spots, go to www.ahamoment.com/vote.

completely destroyed. Twenty-six-year-old Mohammad Mussa an Afghanistan national employed with the Indian embassy in Kabul was flown to India in this condition three weeks back. He was a victim of the recent blast at the embassy and doctors were contemplating amputation as his foot was severely infected. But in an attempt to save the limb, doctors at Max Healthcare reconstructed his foot using one of his abs.

“His right foot was completely destroyed and his bones were exposed. As it was severely infected, there was no way out but to amputate it in order to stop the infection from spreading. But he had already suffered a lot of trauma, as he lost one of his eyes and a glass piece got inside the globe of the other. Amputation would have made things worse for this young guy, so we decided to reconstruct his foot,” said Dr Sunil Choudhary, director, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery, Max Healthcare.

Mussa was operated upon in three stages. First, the infection was controlled by cleaning up wounds and putting a special dressing, called nanocrystalline silver, around them. And after his facial and right arm fractures were fixed, the crucial third surgery that lasting nine-hours was carried out in which doctors reconstructed his foot and simultaneously removed the glass piece lodged inside his eye.

Doctors had to reconstruct his sole till the ankle and therefore, needed a long piece of muscle. “We took one of his abs to reconstruct the foot. We placed this long piece of muscle on the sole and connected the blood vessels. We reconstructed it till the ankle. The blood vessels are very narrow and have to be carefully joined. Any leak would result in the failure of the procedure,” said Dr Choudhary.

After the muscle was carefully stitched, doctors grafted a fine layer of skin from his thigh and spread it over the muscle. “As he had severe burns, there was very little scope of getting a good portion of skin for grafting. We used a skin mesher through which a small piece of skin can be expanded to three times its original size to place it over the reconstructed portion,” said he said.

Before the surgery, doctors had to prepare the foot and ensure it was infection-free. “We used negative pressure therapy that helps heal the wound faster,” he said. While his foot was being reconstructed, an eye expert was operating upon him to remove the glass piece, which was resting just above the retina. “Thankfully, there was no damage to the retina. But his natural lens got destroyed,” he said.

Two weeks from now, Mussa will again see from his right eye. But he is under post-trauma depression and doesn’t remember much about the incident. Doctors say with relatives around, Mussa feels comfortable now and is responding to treatment. And though language is a barrier, he has managed to develop a bond with the ICU staff. “It will take 3-6 months for him to start walking. He can’t put much pressure on his feet. The reconstructed foot is working fine and has a new skin,” he said.

**************************************

Me, I would have guessed that the fingertip amputation threshold for a recall would be, say, 10. I mean, ten little fingers and ten little toes, right?

As for the fingertip amputation threshold for a re-evaluation of a key element of a folding stroller’s design–like, say, the hinge? I’d like to think it’s actually lower than 10. But for whatever reason, it’s 12. That’s how many child fingertip amputations and lacerations were reported to Maclaren and the CPSC before they decided to issue a recall for one million strollers, basically every Maclaren–single or double–sold between 1999 and 2009.

We’ll know more when the actual recall notice is issued, but the gist of it is that two hinges, on the right and left side of every Maclaren, pose a laceration/amputation risk when the stroller is being opened. I don’t know if this exclusive Daddy Types dramatization accurately portrays the finger-munching hinge, but it’s the only one that looks at all threatening. [Well, actually, the whole lower rear hinge and brace set up looks like a guillotine to me, but I can't see how any kid could get a finger in there when you're kicking the stroller open.]

The fix sounds easy: Maclaren will send two hinge covers to every Maclaren owner. Retailers are only being given enough kits to fix their current inventory; they’re being told they won’t have enough for civilians. Registered Mac owners will probably be getting their kits automatically; if you haven’t registered, your best bet is to contact Maclaren via their website or customer service line after Tuesday.

Until then, just repeat the following phrase very loudly whenever you open your Maclaren stroller, while executing a swatting motion with your free hand: “DON’T PUT YOUR FINGER IN THERE!” and you should be fine. Stay tuned for details.

Tausif Khan, a 21-year-old assistant chef in a housing estate club on EM Bypass, received no medical attention except cotton dressing from around 10pm on Wednesday till dawn yesterday as friends and relatives hauled him around the city trying to find a hospital that would admit him.

By the time Tausif found a hospital bed — at Desun Hospital, beside Ruby — it was past 4am. A team of doctors led by orthopaedic surgeon Biplab Dalui was to operate on him late tonight.

“We know for sure that a part of his legs will have to be amputated. How much is a question that can be answered only in the operation theatre,” said plastic surgeon Pradip Sen.

Could Tausif’s legs have been saved with immediate treatment?

Critical care specialist Arijit Bose said every minute was “crucial” to preventing amputation of damaged limbs. “If there is severe vascular damage or rupture of blood vessels, a delay of six hours would certainly eliminate the possibility of saving a limb. But you can save it with quick treatment.”

Denial of treatment is a crime under law. A Supreme Court ruling states that no hospital or nursing home has the right to turn away a patient in a life or limb-saving situation for any reason. The Bengal Clinic Establishment Act contains a similar clause.

Peerless Hospital denied turning away Tausif, saying employees on night duty had merely informed his relatives about the estimated cost of treatment.

“We always give a patient’s relatives an estimate of the costs. The patient came to us with both legs smashed, which would have required specialised treatment costing up to Rs 2 lakh. We didn’t force them to deposit half the amount, as alleged. It is they who backed out saying they couldn’t afford to pay so much,” a spokesperson for the hospital said.

Tausif’s uncle Md. Jahangir Khan said Peerless charged Rs 8,000 to dress Tausif’s wounds. “The doctor on duty even told us, ‘Aap garib aadmi ho, yahaan ilaj nahi karwa payenge (You are poor. You can’t afford the treatment here)’.”

The medical superintendent and vice-principal of SSKM, Debashis Bhattacharya, said he was unaware of a critically injured patient being turned away by his hospital. “I would request the family to lodge a complaint. I will institute an inquiry to find out if all the beds in the emergency department were occupied.”

Tausif’s elder brother Asif, a trainee engineer in Guwahati, said he couldn’t bear to think that his brother was close to losing both his legs.

Tausif, whose roots are in Darbhanga district of Bihar, was waiting for transport on EM Bypass along with some friends on Wednesday night when a speeding mini-truck came straight at them. The chef was knocked down and dragged more than 10 feet.

Cinematical (blog)

After a year of speculation  Danny Boyle has finally settled on his next project. Variety reports that it will be 127 Hours, the tale of mountain climber Aron Ralston. Boyle has been loosely attached to the project since June when the LA Times reported that Boyle and Fox Searchlight had signed a long term, best friends forever deal. Boyle has already penned a treatment, and Simon Beaufoy is in talks to write the script.

In this age of flashmob media stories, you might have forgotten the tale of Ralston. Like your humble authoress and Balloon Boy, Ralston hails from Colorado. He became famous for a Utah climbing accident in 2003, when an 800 lb boulder shifted and crushed his hand. Ralston was forced to choose between life and limb, and in a stomach-turning story heard around the world, he amputated his own hand with a pocketknife. In the media frenzy that followed, Ralston was hailed as a hero and as an idiot, because he had chosen to go climbing alone and without notifying anyone. It was particularly intense locally, and I still remember the heroism debate Ralston sparked in my American Culture class. (It even inspired one student’s final project!) Since those heady days of early fame, Ralston has enjoyed success with his autobiography, continues to climb, and is a motivational speaker.

The director is already on the casting hunt for the part of Ralston, which Variety declares will be “a plum job” because it will force an actor to work solo for most of the shoot. Below the jump, I’ve embedded a video of Ralston describing his amputation. Watch it to prepare for two hours of unflinching detail, and sound off on who you think should be lucky enough to act out a very painful 127 Hours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2XLoQ1xYB0&feature=player_embedded

• Last Updated: 07 October 2009 3:05 PM
• Source: Peterborough ET
• Location: Peterborough

Posted by BA Haller at 1:46 PM

Did you know that there is more than one serious accident per day in the United Kingdom involving Fork Lift Trucks? Were you injured in one? If so, you could really make a difference.

David McGuire is currently working on National Fork Lift Truck Safety Week, raising awareness of the dangers of these machines and the need for extreme care when working with them.

One of the ways this is done is by having regional Safety Ambassadors – accident survivors who can tell their own story, and really bring home the human cost behind the statistics.

Last year David worked with a marvellous and inspiring woman called Lisa Ramos, whose leg was amputated below, and later above the knee after she was crushed by a reversing fork lift.  Sadly this kind of injury is quite typical in such accidents, and two thirds of those affected are – like Lisa – not driving the truck at the time, but working nearby.

Lisa will be working with the campaign again but, as her input was so beneficial, David is keen to involve one or two more amputees this year who live in different parts of the U.K. and who would be willing to share their story to help to spread the safety message further.

If you have suffered an amputation as a result of an accident involving a Fork Lift Truck and might be interested in helping David with this campaign, please contact David McGuire: david@jkc.co.uk

About 82,000 per year — that’s how many legs and feet are amputated annually in the United States because of diabetes.

Diabetes affects about 23.6 million people in the United States. People with diabetes have a 15 percent greater risk of lower extremity amputation than those without diabetes.

More than 60 percent of all nontraumatic amputations of the lower extremity occur in persons with diabetes.

Complications of diabetes affect not only the lower extremities, but also multiple organ systems, including the eyes, kidneys, nervous system and vascular system. The feet of diabetics are at risk largely because of the way diabetes can influence sensation (neuropathy), blood flow (vascular disease) and the ability to fight infections.

The loss of feeling many diabetics experience in their feet is believed to result from poorly controlled blood glucose, which with time, damages the nerves. Patients typically complain of burning, tingling and numbness. These symptoms may keep the patient awake at night and/or cause significant discomfort in the feet during the day. With time, these sensations may go away and the patient may lose the majority of the feeling in his or her feet.

This lack of sensation in the feet places the patient at significant risk. Once the patient is no longer able to feel sharp or light pressure on the bottom of the feet, he or she will not be able to feel a break in the skin caused by tight shoes or when stepping on a sharp object, such as sewing needles, nails, pins, etc.

In addition, diabetics are at an increased risk of developing blockages in the blood vessels which supply nutrition to the feet. When blood flow to the feet is inadequate, the feet are at risk of developing ulcerations, and wounds that are already present are more likely to become infected because diabetics have decreased infection-fighting capabilities.

The most important treatment of the complications which affect the diabetic foot is prevention. Millions of dollars are spent each year in the United States for the treatment of diabetic foot complications. Amputations in diabetic patients are preventable.

Many studies from various countries have shown an appropriate intervention program can and does reduce the number of amputations each year.

The best way to prevent these complications is via a multidisciplinary approach. This is a team approach, which includes podiatrists, vascular surgeons, endocrinologists, internists, family practitioners, orthopedists and diabetic nurse educators.

Preventing foot problems from developing requires regular foot evaluations by a physician. A diabetic foot evaluation consists of recognizing areas at risk, including loss of sensation and poor blood supply to the feet.

The physician will also note the presence of other warning signs, including foot/toe deformities, thick corns and callouses, ingrown/thickened toenails and areas of redness and/or swelling. The physician will then likely place the patient in a risk category and set forth a comprehensive plan to prevent complications.

This plan may include education on how patients can take care of their feet and perform self-examinations of their feet at home, regular follow-up for foot checkups, removing callouses and corns and special shoes or inserts.

Patients with diabetes can and do live their lives without serious complications involving their feet. Prevention of ulcerations is key to preventing complications.

This requires patient education on appropriate foot care and maintaining a close relationship with a physician.

By LAURAN NEERGAARD

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON

It costs $1,400 to cover the oozing sore on the diabetic’s foot with a piece of artificial skin, helping it heal if patients keep pressure off that spot. So when Medicare paid for the treatment but not the extra $100 for a simple walking cast to protect it, an artificial skin maker last year started giving free casts to some needy patients.

Without the right cushioning, “the person will walk to the bus stop and destroy it,” fumes Dr. David G. Armstrong of the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance.

Limb-salvage experts say many of the 80,000-plus amputations of toes, feet and lower legs that diabetics undergo each year are preventable if only patients got the right care for their feet. Yet they’re frustrated that so few do until they’re already on what’s called the stairway to amputation, suffering escalating foot problems because of a combination of ignorance — among patients and doctors — and payment hassles.

“There’s no magic medicine right now for the diabetic foot,” says specialist Dr. Lawrence Lavery of Texas A&M University, who bemoans that simple-but-effective preventive care just isn’t attention-getting.

“People come in (saying), ‘Hey, my wife noticed a bloody trail today as I was walking across the linoleum in the kitchen. What should I do?’”

President Barack Obama got a drubbing from surgeons this month after a confusing comment about how they’re paid for foot amputations that cost $30,000 or more. That tab is the total cost, including hospitalization; surgeon fees range from about $750 to $1,000.

Obama’s larger argument: Better payment for early-stage diabetes treatment, or even care to prevent diabetes, could save the nation money.

The money part’s hard to prove but it’s a lot of misery saved if it’s your foot, and the spat highlights a huge problem. Some 24 million Americans have diabetes, meaning their bodies can’t properly regulate blood sugar, or glucose. Over years, high glucose levels gradually damage blood vessels and nerves.

One vicious result: About 600,000 diabetics get foot ulcers every year. Poor blood flow in the lower legs makes those ulcers slow to heal. And loss of sensation in the feet, called neuropathy, makes patients slow to notice even small wounds that rapidly can turn gangrenous.

A mere nick while clipping nails, or a blister from an ill-fitting shoe, can begin the march toward amputation — and about half of patients who do lose a foot die within five years.

Saving those feet isn’t cheap. Treating a slow-to-heal diabetic foot ulcer can cost up to $8,000. If it gets infected, $17,000. Worse, a fraction of patients gets multiple slow-to-heal ulcers each year.

What helps?

—Routine foot checkups. There’s great variability in how insurers pay for foot screenings before someone’s deemed at high risk, says Dr. Harry Goldsmith, a consultant on podiatric reimbursement. Yet some simple tests, like one that measures blood pressure at the ankle to predict circulation clogs, can signal later risk of ulcers. Medicare patients who do develop certain risk factors qualify for the next step, regular clinic visits to have a technician trim nails or smooth calluses, time that should include a quick check for any wounds, Goldsmith says.

—Gadgets like $20 telescoping mirrors let diabetics who can’t move well check their numb soles for wounds between doctor visits, and infrared foot thermometers that cost up to $100 can detect changes in temperature that mean an ulcer’s brewing before the skin breaks. Again, insurance payment varies.

—Taking pressure off the foot is key, starting with supportive shoes or insoles that target weak spots before an ulcer strikes. Medicare will help pay for certain therapeutic shoes although paperwork limits the diabetics who try them, says Lavery. He finds that an athletic shoe checked by a foot specialist for proper fit can help many patients.

When an ulcer demands more advanced care like grafting that artificial skin, Armstrong says removable walking casts — to-the-calf Velcro boots that injured athletes often wear — ease pressure best but seldom are covered. Worried that doctors wouldn’t prescribe its wound healer Dermagraft if patients crushed it before it could work, Tennessee-based Advanced BioHealing has provided nearly 1,900 of the boots through a patient-assistance program since last year, said vice president Dean Tozer.

—The “toe and flow” approach, diabetic limb-salvage teams that pair specialists who otherwise seldom work side-by-side, like podiatrists and vascular surgeons. Wound care won’t work well until clogged leg arteries are cleared to improve blood flow, notes Armstrong, whose team at the University of Arizona, Tucson, documented a drop in amputations in its first nine months. Such teams can eliminate some of the time diabetics wait for appointments to treat a festering foot, plus stress prevention.

Bria Brown, a 13 year-old Miami girl, calls herself the Queen Bee Survivor — and that she is. When she was only 6 years old, she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare, progressive form of bone cancer. The disease targets the knees, one of the fastest growing areas in the legs. Osteosarcoma is so rare that only one baby in a million will develop the disease.

Bria’s mother Carol took Bria to the emergency room to be treated for an unrelated illness when Bria reminded her to talk with the doctor about the pain she was experiencing in her left leg. “I thought the pain had come from her jumping around and running,” said Brown.

Bria’s mother said after Bria was diagnosed with bone cancer, their lives were turned upside down. “Bria was hospitalized for almost nine months in Miami Children’s Hospital. She lost all of her hair from the chemotherapy, and I lived at the hospital,” said Brown.

After Bria completed chemotherapy seven years ago, she and her parents learned that the bone cancer had spread to other areas in her leg. The recommended solution was amputation. “That just wasn’t an option for us,” said Brown, who was determined to spare her daughter’s leg and quality of life.

Bria’s physician referred her family to a University of Florida orthopaedic surgeon in Gainesville who was helping patients avoid amputation thanks to a new rod implantation procedure.

“My husband told the doctor that we were radical people who were willing to consider anything besides amputation,” added Brown.

Life-changing surgery

In 2001, Bria and B. Hudson Berrey, M.D., a professor in the UF Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, met for the first time with the hope of sparing Bria’s leg.

“Because the disease had almost spread to her hip, they didn’t think she was a candidate for a limb-sparing procedure, which is why they recommended amputation,” said Berrey, who performed Bria’s initial surgery seven years ago at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Berrey said the most difficult part of performing the seven-hour surgery was removing all of the cancer, then removing the diseased femur (thigh bone). Berrey reconstructed Bria’s leg using a custom-made implant.

“The first rod grew her leg a fair number of inches, and then two years ago she had a revision. I replaced the original one, which had gotten as long as it would go. I redesigned the proximal end and put a new rod in to continue to watch her grow,” said Berrey.

As Bria grows, her leg can be lengthened by heating an element in the implant that allows a spring inside of it to expand, thus allowing her left leg to grow the same length as the right leg.

Berrey has shared this procedure with other orthopaedic surgeons but says there are very few surgeons who will do this type of procedure and address these problems. “You have to believe in it, and I believe it is the best solution that we have at this point in time,” said Berrey.

Building lasting relationships

Bria and her family make the trip to Shands Jacksonville every three to four months to have her leg adjusted. Berrey, who was appointed chair of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at the UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville in 2002, have continued to develop a very special relationship with the Brown family. Bria says because Berrey saved her leg, she now wants to attend the UF and become a pediatrician.

“I want to give back because it is something I enjoy doing,” said Bria, who spends a lot of time dancing, and participating in extracurricular activities. She currently holds a 3.7 grade point average and has raised more than $120,000 for the American Cancer Society as a volunteer. “I will be going to Washington, D.C., in May to represent the state of Florida for the Spirit of the Community Award that will be presented by the American Cancer Society.”

Berrey said it has been a rewarding experience working with Bria and getting to know her family. “When I first met Bria, her sister Jada was just a baby and now she’s 6 years old, the same age Bria was when I performed her initial surgery. Now I have a special relationship with her father Ed Brown and her grandparents.”

In addition to the growing number of professional awards, Wound-Be-Gone® continues to receive patient and clinical testimonials from across the country. The “Wound-Be-Gone-ers” and wound care specialists alike are praising Wound-Be-Gone®:

“I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to use the product ‘Wound Be Gone.’ This product did for me in two days what took other methods three months, without any discomfort. I received a bypass surgery to avoid amputation on my left leg recently. When I saw my left leg wound un-bandaged after the first week, it brought tears to my eyes. I am a 50-year-old woman with diabetes and I lost my right leg to amputation a little over 18 months ago. I really think that if this product were available before, I would still have both of my legs today. ‘A special thank you’ for this wonderful gift of a brighter future!”

– Tammy, current user of Wound-Be-Gone®.

“Recently, I have seen several patients in the new wound unit at the United Medical Center who presented as excellent candidates for the Wound-Be-Gone® wonder cream. I want to coin the term ‘Wonder Cream’ because I have seen a series of miraculous results. If at all possible, I would like to obtain more samples to try on these patients in the clinic. We are seeing at least 2 – 3 patients a week that can benefit directly from Wound-Be-Gone.”

– Macy G. Hall Jr., MD. F.A.C.S, Director, Wound Care Center, Specialty Hospital of Washington, Washington, DC.

To view additional testimonials and clinical results from Wound-Be-Gone, please visit http://www.woundbegone.com/testimonials.php.

Wound-Be-Gone® is a new over-the-counter gel that demonstrates enhanced wound healing in varied clinical settings with both acute and chronic wounds. The mechanism of action appears to be related to a decrease in inflammatory mediators due to the active scavenging of oxygen free radicals. Visit www.woundbegone.com for more details.

About Wake Pharma US, Inc.:

Wake Pharma US, Inc. is an innovative and international company with its own manufacturing facility located in the European Union. Wake Pharma US, Inc. specializes in development, marketing and distribution of revolutionary and unique products to the health marketplace. For further information about Wake Pharma US, Inc. please visit our website at www.wakepharmaus.com.

9:58 PM EDT, August 20, 2009

That’s when he had his first amputation — a toe. Over the next 20 years, William Allen Honeycutt would lose a leg, half a foot and several fingers, whittled down by surgeons till he was confined to a wheelchair.

What he needed most back then was a ramp for his modest trailer in Newport News.

This community gave it to him. After Allen appeared in this column, a builder donated his crew, a businessman materials and the job was done. More donations of furniture and money, and Allen — unused to kindness from strangers — was overwhelmed to see his rickety old trailer transformed.

As one onlooker said, “You could see the giddy in his eyes.”

Now readers are being asked to donate one last time.

This time, to Allen’s funeral.

Tuesday morning, a friend arrived at the trailer to find that Allen had apparently slipped in his new bathtub, struck his head and drowned.

He was 34 years old. Divorced last year, he leaves behind two girls, 5 and 7.

“They were told that Daddy went to see Jesus,” said Allen’s sister, Tracey Honeycutt Bridges, en route Wednesday from her home in Greensboro, N.C., to Hampton Roads. “I don’t think they quite understand that yet.”

She last spoke with her brother Sunday and said he was feeling “a little bad.”

“I think just over the last little bit he’d gotten weaker and weaker and he had an infection — had an abscessed tooth that could’ve made him feel … he hadn’t had a lot of strength lately,” Tracey said.

A simple infection can turn deadly for someone with a rare and severe form of hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy, which blocks the ability to feel pain, heat or cold in the extremities.

It’s also called mutilation neuropathy for rendering its victims so oblivious to cuts and burns that they lose fingers, toes and limbs to infection. Allen lost three more fingers earlier this year and was hospitalized with MRSA — a virulent staph infection.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at his church, Parkview Baptist, at the corner of Hilton and Jefferson boulevards.

“I knew him when he was a kid — he’s friends with my baby brother,” said Pastor Rusty Beck. “He was full of life — very, very humble, too.”

When he was up to it, Beck said, Allen would ride his motorized wheelchair to church near his trailer park. Sometimes he’d prop his girls in his lap and bring them along.

At Christmas, a church member dressed as Santa went to Allen’s home to deliver presents to his daughters.

“The kids were totally convinced he was Santa,” Beck says. “You could just see a twinkle in Allen’s eyes.”

“He was upbeat — for somebody who was going through hell,” says Marie Boyd, executive director of the Hampton Roads Good Samaritan Fund.

Donations for Allen’s ongoing needs have been handled by this local nonprofit, which is now fund-raising for his funeral. The group is all-volunteer, so every penny goes to clients.

Donations are tax-deductible and can be sent to the fund at P.O. Box 6281, Newport News, VA 23606.

“He kept saying, ‘When I get better, I want to go to work,’” Boyd says. “I called so many places. They wouldn’t even let him volunteer.”

If it wasn’t the amputations, it was the tattoos or the MRSA or the misdemeanor convictions for petty larceny racked up back when he was a self-described “punk little kid.”

“He never, ever lost hope that he was going to be a father to those little girls until they grew up,” Boyd says. “And he never lost hope that he was going to pay back the community somehow, some way.

“They helped so much for this boy. The community came together like I’d never seen them before.”

It’s being asked to come together one more time.

“Come out here and sit with us and celebrate his life,” Boyd says. “Come to the church and let it not be empty. Fill this church with people who loved this boy.”

Darrell Dishon, 40, of Lebanon planned to marry Nicole Copas in Florida, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported. But he got sick several days before the ceremony.

While Dishon was lying in a coma in a Panama City hospital, Copas and Dishon’s adult daughter, Brittany Moore, had to consent Aug. 1 to the double amputation. He only learned a week after the operation what had happened.

“He was in shock when he found out, but he stayed strong,” Copas said. “He didn’t say ‘Oh, why me. He accepted it. He said he’ll be OK.”

Doctors say Dishon, who is diabetic, may have been especially susceptible to damage once he was infected with Vibrio vulnificus. Dr. Judith Feinberg of the University of Cincinnati said the bacteria can cause virulent skin infections like the one that made Dishon’s amputation necessary.

Dishon is believed to have been infected by eating raw oysters July 26 in Panama City.

Friends in Ohio have planned a fundraiser this Saturday to help Dishon and Copas with expenses.

The disease causes narrowing and hardening of arteries, thus reducing blood flow. If not treated, victims can suffer nerve and tissue damage. The disease can also trigger gangrene, which often requires amputation.

In lab tests on animals, the use of stem cells not only improved blood flow, but also grew new blood vessels. Dr. Chris Kontos, co-director of the Duke Heart and Vascular Group, will be coordinating the trial that focuses on the stem cell regime developed by Pluristem Thera­peutics.
But these are not embryonic stem cells, which have created so much controversy within the medical community. Rather, Pluristem, an Israeli biotherapeutics company whose stock is traded on the Nasdaq, is pioneering the use of stem cells derived from the placenta.
“There is no good medical therapy for critical ischemia,” said Dr. William Prather, who is a consultant with Pluri­stem and helped pick Duke as one of the sites for the test. “There are surgical therapies that can clean out the vessels, but there is no medication or procedure to grow new blood vessels around the obstruction. That is what we have proved in animals.”
Duke is currently enrolling subjects for the trials for the Phase I tests of Pluristem’s PLX-PAD solution. A similar trial will take place in Alabama. “Both locations have used other companies’ cells in the past, so they are familiar with stem cell therapy,” Prather said.
Allogeneic Method
Pluristem is working on a variety of products that would enable stem cell transplants between unrelated donors and patients. The concept is called allogeneic, or “taken from different individuals.” The company wants to treat both severe ischemic and autoimmune disorders; it recently received funding support from the Israeli government.
The Pluristem method is not the first to use stem cells as a potential treatment for ischemia, Prather pointed out. How­ever, the other choice is stem cells taken from bone marrow. Placenta cells are much more widely available, less expensive and don’t require donors to go through the surgical process to extract cells from the hip.
“We don’t have to do any of that with our cells,” Prather explained. “Our cells come off the shelf, they are one size fit all, they come from material that is thrown away, and outpatients can be injected in a process that takes 30 minutes. They are observed for six hours and then sent home.”
In late July, the first patient was injected with the proposed treatment in a clinical trial in Germany being run in parallel with the US tests. As many as 12 patients will be injected, with a mix of smokers, diabetics and obese subjects to be tested in the US.
Phase I trials focus on safety. If the treatment is found to be safe, Phase II trials would begin. The US Food and Drug Administration granted Pluristem approval for the Phase I trials earlier this year.
The treatment is intended for victims of “late stage” ischemia who have not responded to other treatments or surgery and face the prospect of amputation. People selected for the trial will already have a condition related to ischemia, such as an ulcer or nerve pain.
All test patients will receive one injection and half will receive a second, Prather said. There will be no placebos. Pluristem will track both safety and efficacy data over a three-month period following the injections. Although the primary “end point,” or goal of the Phase I trial, is safety, Prather said doctors also will be able to track whether the patients show improvement.
“In animal trials, we saw improvement in blood flow in about three weeks,” Prather explained. “I’m not sure we can equate that to three weeks in humans, though. We could get efficacy in blood flow within a month or two months of injection.”
Even if the treatment proves safe and ultimately is granted FDA approval for sale, Prather pointed out the healing process would not be a quick one. “If these cells are going to be effective, blood flow improvement will be a matter of weeks and months, not inject today and improve tomorrow,” he said. “It just takes time for a new blood vessel to grow.”
Duke and Pluristem agreed to partner on the trial after Pluristem came in contact with Dr. Brian Annex, a former physician at Duke. “He is a world-renowned leader in angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels),” Prather said. “He was in transition at the time when we talked last year, and he recommended that we work with Dr. Kontos. Annex later joined the Pluristem Scientific Advisory Board.
“We are very excited about the possibilities,” said Kontos, who hopes for the first patient injections to be made by the end of August.

Mr. Obama said he doesn’t support a plan to set up Medicaid reimbursement for end-of-life counseling that has stirred widespread controversy.

The president said provisions in one version of the plan in Congress led to false criticisms that Congress was going to set up “death panels that would basically pull the plug on grandma because we have decided it’s too expensive to let her live anymore.”

Arguing that “the status quo is not working for you,” Mr. Obama said the United States is spending more per capita by thousands each year than any other country and “we are not healthier for it.”

He told the crowd that, under his plan, “insurance companies would be prohibited from denying coverage because of a person’s medical history. Period.

“They will not be able to drop your coverage if you get sick. They will not be able to water down your coverage when you need it,” the president said.

He said he is not calling for a single-payer plan favored by some because a transition to such a system before it is properly set up would be “too disruptive” and potentially destructive by forcing people to give up current coverage for an entirely new system.

“I am promoting a plan that will ensure that every single person is able to get health insurance at an affordable price and that if they have health insurance, they are getting a good deal from the insurance company,” he said. “That’s what I am fighting for.”

The president called for a rational debate on “things that are real.” He argued that the plan would help small businesses and their employees get cheaper insurance by putting them into large insurance coverage pools. He said many have heard the plan could cost $800 billion to $1 trillion, and that is the cost over 10 years, not each year.

He said the plan would cost $80 billion to $100 billion annually, and he would not sign a bill that added to the national debt or budget deficit.

Mr. Obama said he would generate $177 billion by eliminating insurance company subsidies, and rely on $500 billion to $600 billion in savings from more efficient medical care and by eliminating things such as redundant medical tests. He said conversion to electronic medical records would allow doctors to easily share medical records and test results so each doctor, specialist and then the hospital treating a patient would not repeat the same tests at each step of the care.

He said that leaves a cost of $30 billion to $40 billion annually to cover those who are uninsured, “and we will need new sources of revenue to pay for it.” He has proposed limiting charitable and other itemized income tax deductions for those earning more than $250,000 to cover those costs. He said there is no agreement yet in Congress and they are “still exploring” how to pay for it.

Recalling a pledge that he would not raise taxes on middle class families, made during the New Hampshire primary last year, the president said he is not backing off that commitment. “I don’t want anybody saying somehow that I am pulling a bait and switch here,” he told a young man who had asked how the plan would be funded without middle class tax hikes.

Outside, meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators on both sides of the issue lined the entrance road to the school, standing for hours in the sun, waving signs and loudly chanting slogans.

Confirming the president’s concerns about the “death panel,” one young blonde woman carried a sign stating, “Obama lies. Grandma dies. Stop nationalized health care.” Across the street, another carried a sign supporting the president’s plan that said: “Insurance companies are enemies of change.”

Some opponents said they wanted to keep government out of health insurance. “Reform yes. Government takeover, no way,” touted another signboard. When the president’s motorcade arrived via a rear access road, opponents frustrated that he didn’t drive past their demonstrations chanted, “Back Door Obama.”

Nancy Wright and her husband, Jim Leiterman, formerly of Spencer, Mass., who have retired to North Conway, said they believe the government is moving too fast, especially on the heels of the unprecedented economic bailout and economic stimulus programs.

“He’s moving too quickly. He is spending our money too quickly,” said Ms. Wright, adding she believes the president should tackle the immigration problem before health care. She said health care reforms are needed. “But I don’t want the government involved in my health care,” she said, sporting a bright yellow N.H. Tea Party Coalition T-shirt.

Terry Wright, who drove to the event from Maine, said she would like to see universal coverage and thinks the nation can afford it. “If we stop spending billions on advertising and lobbyists, we would have more money for health care,” she said.

The president criticized some congressional opponents of the plan, saying they approved a drug coverage bill last year without finding a way to pay for it first and that it has worsened the budget crisis in Washington.

Asked about government panels that could restrict medical treatments, Mr. Obama said a panel of doctors and health experts would set guidelines for the most appropriate methods of care, and that is needed to eliminate wasteful practices.

He used the example of diabetes patients, saying currently insurers will only pay a “pittance” for a family doctor to monitor medication and diet of diabetes patients that can prevent costly problems later. But he said the insurance companies do not hesitate to pay $30,000 for a foot amputation for a diabetic who does not get good preventive care.

“Why not make sure we are reimbursing the care that can prevent the amputation?” he asked, saying changes are needed in medical reimbursement policies.

Mr. Obama also voiced objections to media distortions driving opposition to the reforms. When a man told him he had “turned myself in” by identifying himself on the White House Web site for health care questions as a “skeptic,” the president interrupted him to explain the White House was asking people to send e-mails with criticisms of the plan so they could be answered.

“Suddenly, on some of these news outlets, this is being portrayed as Obama is collecting an enemies list. Now come on, guys, here I am trying to be responsive to questions being raised out there,” the president said.

The president said he liked the man’s question about why he doesn’t criticize Congress for their plush health plan, while others suffer with lesser insurance programs. The president added that he agreed with the man’s point.

Mr. Obama said without health care reform, the gap will widen between plans like those that federal workers have and those of others.

In this article and other follow-up articles, I shall highlight the dangers of diabetes if left untreated and the possible consequences that may result. I know because I had first hand experience of it as I had seen both my parents and three of my aunts and an uncle suffered from diabetes as well as myself. I am not sure about others but even though I knew that I am in the high-risk group, I refused to believe until I was diagnosed as diabetic. I had early warning signs but failed to take precautions to avoid it.

Recently, while looking for more information on diabetes, I came across an article “Long-term consequences of diabetes” by Chris D. Meletis (see Townsend Letter. May 2009 i310 p54(7)). The article estimated that 23.6 million people in the United States are diabetic. However, what is scary is that there are another 5.7 million people out there who are not diagnosed even though they are in the higher risk group of getting diabetes. This is only for the United States but what about other countries? What are the likely consequences that these people are likely to face when their conditions are left untreated? This also serves as a warning to those who are already diagnosed as diabetic but for reasons known to them, refuse to follow-up with the necessary treatment.

So what are the possible consequences should one ignore their diabetic condition? Firstly, a diabetic has to be aware of what diabetes can do to a person’s legs and feet, as it will affect their mobility. Should there be any wound or injury on the legs or feet, do not think that it can heal by itself. Even if you should self-medicate, my advice is to be careful. Or if there is a small wound, do not even think that it can be ignored. It takes a long time for an injury or wound to heal for a diabetic, no matter how small the wound or injury is. I strongly suggest that medical help be sought immediately. Seek professional medical advice and do not self-medicate unless medical help is not available. But once medical help is available, ensure that you inform the medical professional of your wound or injury.

Like I had said, wounds and injuries on a diabetic takes a longer time to heal. If not properly taken care of, the condition may worsen and the consequence is possible amputation. In one of my articles, I had mentioned that my late aunt did not take care of her leg that resulted in an amputation. Nearer home, my own mother, who was also diabetic, had a small ulcer (wound) on her ankle. We know the danger of an ulcer and brought her to see a doctor. However, the ulcer just got bigger and refused to heal properly, even with medical help. She had the ulcer for almost 2-months before her death. So be careful and do not dismiss any wounds, no matter how slight it may seem to you. Take good care of your feet and legs, as they are valuable to you and allow you to be mobile. Don’t live with regret; take care of your feet and legs now.

To care for your feet make sure that you have proper footwear. Also, wear padded socks to protect it further. As for your legs, wear pants to protect them. In other words, be properly attired to ensure protection for both your legs and feet.

Another measure is to check the sole of your feet, if possible, every night. What to look for? Ensure there are no cracked heels as it can possibly lead to small wounds that may go unnoticed. Use a good cream to repair the cracked heels. Also look out for any signs of wounds. If you are not able to examine it closely, have someone check it for you. This is one of the simplest self-check that you can do. Do not let laziness prevent you from carrying out this check. You will be thankful that you had done it as you can detect problems early and seek medical attention. To obtain more information on diabetes, please visit http://www.inforichweb.com

by Aline Nassif

To her patients, surgeon Stella Vig is something of a phenomenon at Mayday Hospital.

Her gift is saving thousands of diabetic patients the agony of losing a leg.

The 42-year-old vascular surgeon and diabetes expert has received two prestigious awards in the last few weeks for her work.

The merited recognition has come about because, since December 2006, she has presided over a 30 per cent drop in the number of major amputations at the Thornton Heath hospital.

It is mainly down to a procedural innovation, where all diabetic patients are automatically fast-tracked to her department for treatment and advice.

She explained: “Surgically there’s nothing different here at Mayday but, instead of having diabetic patients spread across the hospital, we keep them all in one place.

“With diabetics who get blood supply problems it could be a matter of 24 to 48 hours before they face amputation, so the sooner we see them the better chance they have of avoiding that.”

Sufferers of diabetes are particularly prone to having to have their feet amputated.

Stella said: “Because they have such poor blood supply they’re often completely unaware that their feet are in trouble, so it’s up to us to act fast on their behalf.

“Diabetics feel nothing. They could have huge holes at the bottom of their foot and never know.”

Stella’s team comprises of co-consultant surgeon Josh Derodra, physiotherapists, podiatrists [chiropodists], occupational therapists, visiting social workers as well as nurses and other medical staff.

All 49 beds across her Fairfield Ward 1 and neighbouring Fairfield Ward 2 – which treats diabetics with medical as opposed to vascular problems – are usually full, so Stella’s team are careful to prioritise the urgent cases.

She said: “We can’t take everybody but we do ensure each patient gets the right treatment.

“People with simple problems get treatment in the community, with the support of district nurses and GPs.

“Otherwise, they are kept in the ward for as long as it takes to treat them properly so they don’t come back with more problems.”

Statistically, patients with “diabetic feet” have a 40 per cent chance of suffering a recurrence within five years, so Stella insists on regular check-ups.

“Losing a leg is like losing your mum or a first degree relative – it has the same psychological effect,” she said.

“It dramatically affects your social life, your work and even family relations.

“I once had to perform an amputation on a self-employed builder who had failed to seek medical treatment for his foot in time – he effectively lost his life.”

STELLA’S PATIENTS

Air stewardess Amanda Jones, from Waddon, suffers from type-1 diabetes.

Despite wearing sensible shoes, the 38-year-old’s awkwardly-shaped broad size 7 feet swelled up and became ulcerated in several places.

After feeling the discomfort she went to see her GP two months ago, who put her on a course of antibiotics.

But an infection in her left foot deteriorated and she checked herself into Mayday. There Stella gave her an aggressive course of antibiotics for 10 days and drained the wounds.

Amanda was hours away from amputation. She said: “I can’t thank Stella enough, she was absolutely fantastic. If I had lost my leg my life would have been ruined. It would have meant the end of my career and a really depressing future on crutches or wheelchair-bound.”

Former police dog handler Tony Harding has mild type-2 diabetes and kidney failure.

The 70-year-old, from Warlingham, was receiving dialysis treatment when he noticed that his left foot had suddenly started to go cold.

When he sought help from Stella she found a blackened toe – the result of a cut-off blood supply – that he hadn’t even noticed.

Tony only lost the dead toe and had to have an operation to unblock a major artery from his groin down to his foot.

He said: “Thanks to Stella I have complete independence. She is an amazing doctor and a wonderful, supportive and kind human being.”

Retired civil servant Tom Butlin has type-2 diabetes and suffered a potentially life-changing infection in his ankle.

It was brought on by “Charcot Foot” disease, where the bones in the foot collapse.

The 78-year-old, from South Croydon, saw Stella in the nick of time, otherwise he would probably now be left with just one leg.

He explained: “It was a pretty shocking sight. It started with a skin infection which seeped into the bones of my ankle and made them collapse.

“I was in a pretty serious situation, but Stella made me feel at home and comfortable at all times.

“Stella’s an incredibly generous person and treats her patients like her friends. I have a lot to thank her for.”

(Thanks to Steve McNeice for sending this article)

By Simon Wright 2/08/2009

That is, you’re never really sure how hard it can get until you spend a little time heading up stream.

Whitehall’s John VanSanden has learned that lesson in spades, not only inside a kayak — where he recently finished fourth out of 40 participants, seconds out of third place, at the 2009 Extremity Games — but also from his time spent away from the water, where life’s strong current isn’t always as easy to see.

“It took me 17 years to decide, after all the infections and stuff, to finally tell them I’d had enough,” said VanSanden, recounting his decision in 2005 to have doctors amputate his lower right leg. “It’s a crappy decision, but I just couldn’t take it.”

VanSanden’s amputation came as a result of a 1988 car accident. What followed was a painful series of surgeries (five in all) to save his leg, and then bouts with several infections. He said his hope that medical advancements in stem cell research would grant him a reprieve from amputation were just not enough to sustain him. “I was on antibiotics for over 10 years,” he recalled. “Instead of getting better, it continued to get worse.”

Once the decision was made, though, VanSanden refused to simply give up and give in, opting instead to keep what abilities he had before the amputation and perhaps strengthen others “I was essentially without that leg for awhile anyway,” said VanSanden, adding his injured right leg was already in such rough shape with atrophy following the accident that it was easier to get used to having just one leg following the amputation. Soon after, he was fitted with a prosthesis and received physical therapy from Mary Free Bed Hospital in Grand Rapids.VanSanden, who lives with his wife, Karyn, son and daughter, still raves about his first day with the prosthesis. “I put it on, the first leg I got, stood up and walked,” said VanSanden. “(The doctors) looked at me and said ‘Wow, we’ve never seen anyone do that before.’”

During his time with Mary Free Bed, the topic of participating in the Extremity Games, which started the year VanSanden had his leg removed, came up and he explored the idea. “I’d never kayaked before, but it was something we thought I could do.”

And this was the year he thought he could do it. VanSanden credits the folks over at Happy Mohawk Canoe Livery in Montague with letting him use a kayak with which to train. Nearly a month out from the competition, VanSanden took to the White River, spending hours going up river from Happy Mohawk to get into shape.

The technique paid off.

“Going up the river all the time, against the current all the time,” VanSanden explained, “…well, when I got to the lake (where the competition was held) it was like a piece of cake.” The kayak portion of the Extremity Games — which also features skateboarding, rock climbing, wakeboarding, mountain biking and motocross — was held at Holloway Reservoir in Davison. VanSanden cruised through the quarter and semifinal heats, and took his turn in the finals, finishing the course in 3 minutes, 25 seconds, six seconds off his time in the semifinals. The added seconds would prove fatal to VanSanden’s place-finishing hopes, as he came in fourth, just three seconds out of third place.

“They didn’t tells how we did until the awards ceremony,” said VanSanden. “Yeah, it was a bummer to find out I was so close.” VanSanden then admitted he was pretty proud of the way he finished. “I kept telling the guys, ‘As long as I don’t finish last, I’ll be happy.”

Because of his success, VanSanden — who, years ago, had a hand in discovering the Lamium Maculatum ‘Purple Dragon’ ground cover flower — said he will be back.

“Oh yeah,” he said with certainty, “I will do it again.”

For more information on Extremity Games or Athletes with Disabilities Network, contact 586-556-1761.

Last updated: 30/06/2009 06:00:00

A WOMAN who lost her leg in what should have been a routine knee operation has won more than £1million in compensation.

Karen Flory has been left significantly disabled and continues to experience pain in the affected leg as well as phantom limb pains.

Ipswich Hospital admitted responsibility in 2008 and the last few months have been spent thrashing out an appropriate settlement.

Ms Flory, who was 37 at the time, was admitted to Heath Road in February 2007 for the removal of inflamed tissue on her right knee.

But problems in managing the blood circulation during surgery forced doctors to amputate her leg above the knee.

The practical implications of her injury mean that she is unable to return to her previous employment.

Ms Flory, of Foxhall Road, Ipswich, said: “Money can never compensate for the loss of a limb, but it can make it easier to overcome the practical issues.

“The size of the settlement reflects the fact that I am not yet 40 and the whole of the rest of my life has been irrevocably changed by the amputation.

“Just as important as the money, however, is the hospital’s acknowledgment that errors were made. I am only disappointed that they didn’t feel able to be more forthcoming when I made my initial complaint and that the threat of proceedings was necessary to obtain an admission.

“I felt very let down. Despite the fact that an internal investigation was carried out at the time I still haven’t had the benefit of a meeting to discuss this or been advised what steps are being taken to try to ensure that no one else falls victim to the same mistakes.”

Ms Flory’s claim was brought by Tom Cook, a clinical negligence specialist at Kester Cunningham John Solicitors.

He said: “The settlement takes account of many factors including her reduced long-term mobility; the treatment and care she may require as she gets older; and her need to find a new source of employment as well, of course, as compensation for the injury itself.”

A spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said the trust had apologised to Ms Flory and made an offer of a settlement within a month of receiving her claim.

“The trust is pleased the matter has been settled very quickly and wishes Ms Flory well for the future,” she added.

(Thanks to Steve McNeice for sending this article)