My Challenge

 

It all started with a phone call,  7 years ago.

 

Cancer was the word that stood out as our General Practitioner outlined the results of my recent tests.

 

The next weeks passed in a blur of appointments with specialists and hospitals, culminating in an appointment which my husband and I will never forget. The surgeon told us that the ONLY treatment available was an internal hemipelvectomy involving cutting out all of the diseased bone with wide margins.

 

That meant removal of the head of the femur of my right leg, and all of the pelvic bone structure on the right hand side.

 

Shock is probably the easiest way to sum up our feelings at that moment.

 

To add to our dismay we were told that there was to be no implant, no prosthesis. Nothing was to be put in its place…Nothing.

 

The surgeon was however confident of the outcomes of the operation but it meant a guaranteed future of wheelchairs and two crutches.

 

Whenever there is a challenge, there is also an opportunity to face it, to demonstrate and develop our will and determination.

 Dalai Lama

 

 

After 4 years of extensive rehabilitation, and my life getting to a ‘new normal’ with two crutches, my husband Paul and I decided that there had to be a solution.

 

Surely someone had tackled this before, and so we started our quest to find a way that we could get down to one crutch at least.  For those who have had to use two crutches permanently, you will know carrying anything is extremely difficult and to go to just one crutch would be a major improvement .

 

We approached experts in the world of prosthetics and orthotics, we met with  Research and Development departments of major companies and even commissioned a top group of prosthetists and orthotists to have a go at creating a viable solution. 

 

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance

- it is the illusion of knowledge.

Daniel J Boorstin

 

They all said that they did not have a solution and knew of nothing that would work.