28 year old Amy from Wirral first broke her leg at 15 months old on whilst on holiday in France with her family. Amy was treated at Arrowe Park on her return, and after three months in a cast, her leg had not healed as expected.
Amy was referred to Alder Hey, and was diagnosed with pseudoarthrosis, which is a condition where a broken bone fails to heal properly, resulting in a weak area that can move like a joint. This meant that Amy’s tibia did not knit back together as expected when it was broken which affected her mobility. She couldn’t walk, requiring a wheelchair, or walking sticks & walking frames. This meant that Amy was unable to join in with her school friends on their roller blades & scooters or from taking part in gymnastics or PE lessons.
Amy’s long road to recovery began, with her biggest surgery at six years old, a 13-hour operation where her fibula bone was taken and used as bone graft to get her tibia pseudoarthrosis to heal.
The operation was a success but after spending the night in intensive care, Amy developed compartment syndrome in her left leg and had to be rushed to surgery another three times over the course of a week for emergency pressure relief and reconstruction. The operations were again successful but left Amy’s left ankle deformed and with no feeling or mobility in her foot. Amy also needed multiple Ilizarov frames (an external frame surgeons use to lengthen or reshape bones) throughout her childhood to lengthen her new tibia, ensuring the right leg continued to grow at the right pace.
During her journey, Amy also had to relearn how to walk several times through weekly sessions with Alder Hey’s physio staff. This included teaching her how to walk with a frame or stick when she was younger, through to building up her strength in the hydrotherapy pool when she was older.
Following 15 years of treatment and at least 18 operations at Alder Hey (including tendon/ligament rewiring, Achilles lengthening, skin grafts, pinning, plate insertion/removal), Amy relearned to walk for the final time aged 17 and was discharged a few months after her 18th birthday. Following her discharge, Amy learnt how to ride a bike and swim, performed in local dance shows, and even started going out with her friends again.
Now aged 28, Amy has never looked back. She took up running as her new hobby during the coronavirus lockdown and is now training for the Manchester Half Marathon in October and will be fundraising for Alder Hey Children’s Charity during the event.
I can’t think of a better way to give back to the hospital that saved my legs. Whether or not I make it to the finish line, I’m going to try my absolute best and be extremely proud of the result. What’s most important to me is that I give back to Alder Hey, and help them continue their amazing work for future children and families in need.”
Amy
“Considering how scary and challenging my condition was, my memories of Alder Hey are hugely positive – which is 100% down to the amazing staff. My parents and I felt like we developed close connections, or even friendships, with a lot of the staff – particularly the nurses on Ward E2 who would bandage up my teddy bears to make me feel less scared. This also included the porters who wheeled me to my operations who made laugh constantly to stop me from being nervous, the plaster room staff who changed my plaster cast weekly and took a keen interest in hearing all about my school life, Dave who made my plastic gaiters with pink bunnies on, and the physio who made exercises in the swimming pool fun (particularly when I was a teenager, and cared more about not messing up my hair!). My real hero is Mr Nayagam, my consultant who led all the surgeries and corrective treatments. The staff are truly outstanding and make very scary times more manageable for patients and their families.”