My life before losing my leg
Without going into depth in the years before I lost my leg, I do want to share the part of me I’ve always thought to be the part that really showed who I am. The out & about, with an adventurous spirit part of me. The active and sportive part of me.
Since a very young age I’ve been a keen sportsman, an athlete during my school years, and very active in Gymnastics and Tumbling. So much so that I became the youngest Gymnastics Judge in South Africa at the age of 16 (The legal age in South Africa to work). I truly loved the more artistic/creative sport types, and soon found myself on the Ballroom Dance Floor.
Dancing became my greatest passion. All forms of dancing. Even dancing on ice (Figure skating), and dancing with fire (Poi dancing). Yes, all kinds of dancing. As the music fills the soul, and your body starts to flow, your hands, arms, head, legs, feet, every part of your body comes alive, translating the music on the dance floor. Foxtrot, Quickstep, Two-step, Slow Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Cha Cha, Mambo, Samba, Salsa, Jive, West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Boogie, Merengue, Bachata, Jazz, HipHop, Modern, Freestyle, you name it, I wanted to dance it. My friends can attest that I was on the social dance floor dancing South African Social dances, every weekend. I even opened a couple of dance studios at some stage in my life.
Besides dancing, I loved hiking, camping, mountain climbing, rowing, swimming, surfing, cycling, jogging, walking, obstacle courses, gymming, crossfitting, yoga, pilates, skating (roller skating and ice skating), water skiing, and every other activity even if I haven’t tried it yet.
Losing my leg
On a bright sunny day November 2011 (Summer in South Africa) I was out on the road with my motorbike (mid-day). Never knew this would be my last day to enjoy the full use of my two strong and healthy feet. A vehicle, while the driver was on his mobile phone, made a U-turn right in-front of my motorbike. Life changes within a split second.
I went flying through the air, hitting the tar road a couple of meters further and my bike came down on top of me, rolling on the tar and onto the gravel road. I realized that my leg was rolling differently to the rest of me. Lying there next to the road, I noticed a handful of people gathering around me, while my blood was slowly draining out of my body. I thank God for those people, as one lady contacted the ambulance while blocking the sun out of my eyes, and another man tried to stop the blood, as it took over an hour before the ambulance arrived. I still cracked a joke as they brought me into the emergency room – and then – I blanked out.
Weeks later I started to wake up in ICU (Intensive Care Unit), where they told me that I basically turned around at death’s door, still with the leg and crashed foot. Parts of the bone were missing, and major open wounds. No feeling nor movement in that leg.
I still smiled, gave everyone a thumbs up, and thanked God for another day.
After the accident
It was a year walking on crutches and the dead leg, mostly with a blood draining machine attached to my leg. A struggle to get the holes filled, and the flesh to cover the bone before the wounds could be closed with yet another skin graft.
Weighing up the options concerning the missing Tibia part (give or take 8cm lower leg bone) doctors recommended amputating my leg. The doctors said I would most probably never be able to walk again without crutches – which meant I would never dance again.
Besides my active lifestyle – Dancing – a passion I am not willing to give up.
I stayed positive through the amputation, doing Pilates to keep my core as strong as possible, before the amputation, and after the amputation, both periods of time basically on one leg. The amputation was done in October 2012, and I received my 1st prosthetic leg in January 2013. Walking in on crutches, walking out with a metal leg. I kept as active as possible and found myself back on the dance floor within a couple of months. Back on the ice rink within 6 months, and climbing Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa within a year. Yes, I have three prosthetic legs to help me with my various activities, and it still holds me back from doing even half of what I used to. Willing I sure am – have a look at my blog posts. In March 2023 I walked the Camino de Santiago from Porto (350km) in 2 weeks; and I did it with a broken prosthetic leg.
Speaking of breaking these legs, which has happened many a time. Besides the valves not lasting and the liners not coping with my high activity lifestyle, the 3 worst breaking times was:
- My prosthetic blade broke out of the socket (cup) in the middle of a spin turn dancing the Viennese Waltz on a dance floor in Stellenbosch (South Africa).
- My heavy impact prosthetic leg’s socket (cup) broke while I was doing a Snatch (lifting a barbell from the ground to overhead in one movement) in CrossFit.
- My general leg broke out of its socket (cup) while climbing boulders in the mountains of Namibia.
Notice how all the breakings and problems mostly occur from the socket (cup: the part that fits over the stump, attaching the actual prosthetic foot to the stump). Other regular issues I must deal with are friction and blisters on the stump, caused by the sweat (including the regular daily swelling and shrinking of the stump) within the liner, especially when mountain climbing. After a day out doing the Wodehouse Peak trail (Hight 2450m) in golden Gate (Orange Free State, South Africa), it took a couple of weeks to heal the blisters before I could walk again (Similar happens when I climbed Montserrat in Barcelona, Spain). Smaller blisters I generally walk out – so to speak.
How it feels to wear prosthetics: Think how it would feel to wear a shoe that is 2 sizes too small, as it must sit so tightly attached to you. In the case of the prosthetic cup (socket), the reason it must sit so tight is so that you don’t walk with your weight onto the bottom part of your amputation, and of course so that the prosthetic doesn’t come off. Obviously when your stump swells, the already tight becomes so much tighter, that at times I can’t put the prosthetic leg back on at all. In these cases, I must rest the stump (sometimes more than 1 day) to allow bruises to heal. Other times when the stump shrinks, the weight is more on the bottom part of the prosthetics, which will absolutely cause friction and often blisters.
My greatest wish for the future
The more adventurous side of me had to calm down, and the greater risk activities not in scope anymore. But a person should never be withheld from walking, hiking, cycling, swimming, and dancing: in my opinion the very basic activities for an active person.
My wish for all other people would be to never lose on your healthy activities in life. Never lose hope in your capabilities, and enhanced abilities where others are lost. Never let go of the freedom of dancing.
My greatest wish for my future is to not lose hope during the ongoing recoveries after breaking of my prosthetics, and pain I must endure of the issues caused by the liners and sockets sometimes just after a normal day’s walking.
I wish for the possibility of receiving the osseointegration operation were the pilon (shaft between the socket and foot) is implanted into the Tibia (integrating the prosthetic and the bone), and never have the ongoing (daily) problems caused by the liners and sockets again. This will improve my everyday life by 80%:
- Mostly the daily aches and pains will be less, and obviously the major injuries through activities won’t be a problem anymore.
- the stump and socket (almost like a double bend) won’t have an effect anymore.
- Alignment in my back (and whole body) will be better, as the implant is always 100% aligned with the Tibia, and with the little movement between I’ll be able to shower on 2 feet.
- I won’t have to remove my prosthetics on longer drives or flights due to lack of circulation pain etc.
A more normal life. And I can keep on inspiring others to keep on living.
