Lana Meade: The Limbless Association

We had two speakers today, Lana and Michael from the Limbless Association. Lana is a recently-appointed fundraiser and Michael a volunteer.

The Limbless Association was founded in 1983. It supports non-military personnel who have had one or more limbs amputated. It offers information, advice and support for amputees, for their families and friends and for professionals. It tries to ensure that no amputee needs to cope alone.

It is based here in Chelmsford but has a number of “Support & Connect Hubs” around the country. The Hubs enable amputees, their families, friends and carers to get together to access information, share experience of limb loss and make new friends.

It also has a network of volunteer visitors providing one-to-one support for amputees both before and after the operation. Volunteers must themselves be amputees who had their operation at least two years previously.

Michael is one of those volunteers, having lost his left leg below the knee as the result of a motor-cycling accident in the USA some four years ago. He received excellent medical treatment in America, where he was told efforts could be made to save his leg but there was no guarantee of success and he could end up in permanent pain. He took the alternative option of amputation.

When he had recovered sufficiently he was flown back to the UK on a private jet. He told us it was not as luxurious as it sounds!

Once back in the UK he underwent rehabilitation and was fitted with a prosthetic. It was fairly obvious that he can walk well on the prosthetic leg. He said that it has to be carefully fitted and changed from time to time because the stump of his leg reduced in size over time. He is currently on his fourth prosthetic, which he has had now for two years.

He explained just what a help it was getting to know fellow amputees through the Limbless Association. He said that “From family and friends you get sympathy. From fellow amputees you get empathy.” When an amputee had problems dealing with a particular aspect of the limb loss, there was sure to be another amputee who had encountered the same problem and found a solution.