This is a long story, but here's the condensed version.
I'm recovering from a serious accident I had in 2010 - I was hit by a car as a pedestrian and left for dead at night on a deserted road. I knew I would die. I could see how much blood I was losing and how fast I was losing it.
By some miracle though I was saved, by another motorist, one who did stop! I subsequently spent 8 weeks in hospital and have had 14 operations, mostly to reconstruct my left leg below the knee.
30% of the tissue was lost and was replaced with a muscle from my back and skin from my right thigh. My tibia was broken in four places, set and then rebroken and reset again 20 months later because it healed up with a 17 degree angle in it. I have been in external fixation twice, most recently from March-November 2012.
My fibula is permanently broken and my ankle remains pretty immobile. As a result I have continuing problems with stress fractures in my foot caused by walking strangely. I came off crutches finally in September 2013.
Of course I was terribly unfit compared to before, but the goal is to be better than I was before. At the moment I can still bike a lot easier than I can walk, although I have now had some shoes modified by orthotics to have a 3cm heel raise on the left side. That makes walking uphill much easier.
There's a chance I may need another operation to improve my ankle which is where the main problem is now. I won't know for sure about that until mid 2014 though.
Meanwhile, on with the riding and raising money for the emergency services. You never know when you might need them, but you'll be very grateful they're there if you do! You can donate anytime by clicking the justgiving link to the right of this page.
You can look at my post Recover - From Left for Dead to Ride with Brad for more info and pictures of the whole episode, some of which not for the faint-hearted!
*UPDATE June 2015*
I've been continuing to have problems walking, mostly with pain in my ankle and lower back. As a result, I will definitely have another operation to realign my ankle joint and to lengthen my tibia by 2.5cm. This will most likely be in the autumn, and I will be in external fixation again for ~6 months. Joy! But the prognosis for afterwards is very good, it should be a massive improvement. So if that is indeed true it will be worth it. Watch this space!
*UPDATE October 2016*
This will now happen on October 26th 2016!
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