Derby Day – Man United vs Man City
Jan ’23, I was gifted tickets to the Manchester United – Manchester City derby match at Old Trafford, and being a huge Man U fan, I jumped at the chance. Well, I didn’t quite jump, I’ve not learnt jumping on my prosthesis yet, but I definitely moved in an excited fashion.
Annabel’s Amputee Assessment: 4 Star
The parking was fantastic. My blue badge got me a space right in front of the ground, just 2 minutes’ walk to E4, the entrance to the Knights Lounge.
There were lifts up to the hospitality suite but no lifts to the terrace. The only way to get to our seats was to climb 4 flights of stairs – not really a problem now I’ve mastered the Genium X3’s step-over-step function, but enough to make me puff.
Once seated it was definitely worth the climb:
The only real issue was the crowds. Obviously you’re going to get massive crowds at a premier league football match but for anyone still a bit unsteady on their prosthesis I’d be really careful. Luckily my mum’s built like Arnold Schwarzenegger and was able to protect me, but I’d advise leaving just before the end of the match or once everyone has left the stadium.
Luckily we were swept around to the players’ exit, and my bionic leg, that seems to be a homing device for officials and anyone wearing a luminous vest, got us ushered into a pen separate to the crowds in a prime spot for player sightings and signatures, of which I got both.
Overall a great day and an incredible 2-1 win. Up the Red Devils!
Once you survive a year like mine, nothing seems scary anymore, so when I heard the best trip in Cape Verde was swimming with sharks, I thought why not! Admittedly, sharks are attracted to shiny things, and yes, my Genium X3 prosthetic leg is the shiniest of shiny things, but they’d come off worse than me if they bit, so off we went to Pedra de lume.
Just try me, sharks.
During the truck ride – that was actually the scariest part of the day – I did question whether my confidence was misplaced, like people who wear bullet proof vests – what if they’re shot in the head?! But we ploughed on, quite literally churning up dirt tracks and swerving around dusty corners. There’s only one main road in Sal – the island’s 29km long and 11km wide – and the sharks aren’t waiting in some layby, so you have to travel off-road and the best method’s by jeep. We hired ours for €150 Euros and had it for the whole day, seeing all of Sal’s sights (there’s about 3.)
As the video shows, there’s not much there. A couple of trinket stalls and a shack where you meet your guide and hire swim shoes. The experience costs around €20 Euros but if you’ve hired the truck (there’s a driver, you’re not expected to navigate the sand dunes alone like Mad Max) entrance to all sights are included in the €150 Euros.
You have to be able to walk across small rocks in shallow water if you want the sharks to swim up to you. You can see their fins from the shore, which is scary enough, but you’ve survived the truck ride so you might as well have the sharks swimming around you, so try your best to get out there. I managed by linking arms with my brother and walking really slowly, and it’s not slippery as such, just uneven.
Once you’re thigh deep, the fun begins. Your guide literally throws bait on your legs – don’t worry my Genium X3 took the brunt and I couldn’t feel it – then the sharks swarm.
It’s great fun and I’d highly recommend. Plus when I zoomed in on the footage I realised I had absolutely nothing to be scared of. My Grandma’s teeth are sharper.
Cape Verde
Annabel’s Amputee Assessment: 5 star
The Riu Palace Santa Maria was the first hotel I visited as an amputee and it truly was 5 star service. A gorgeous lobby greets you with bars, coffee shops and lounge areas just steps away.
For amputees learning to walk, I’d highly recommend this hotel. All surfaces are perfectly smooth and there’s enough distance from the lobby to the rooms to the pools and the restaurants to make you feel like you’re on a rehab walk – probably a little further than you’d like to go, but the perfect distance to get into your stride and improve.
And for anyone struggling with the distances, the hotel has a range of mobility scooters you can hire for a reasonable price.
The walk to the sea from the beach is long, and anyone with a prosthetic leg will know sand is the hardest surface to walk on, especially when you’re still learning as I was, but it’s worth the effort as the sea is crystal clear and beautifully warm – even in December!
The rooms were large and clean with mini bar and spirits dispensers. The shower was easy to step into on my waterproof prosthetic leg, or crutches, and the restaurants had tables next to the entrance saved specifically for people with mobility issues. It truly was an accessible place that I’d highly recommend.
…and for the daredevil amputees amongst you, the hotel has an amazing waterpark. I’d only had my prosthetic leg for a month, so I went to the small slides, don’t judge.
“This usually costs an arm and a leg, Annabel,” joked my mum for the billionth time. “It only cost you a leg!”
I have a feeling my mum will be using that joke every single time we travel. It might not be funny, but it’s 100% true. My prosthetic leg gifted us super-fast check in, security, boarding and disembarkation for absolutely nothing – apart from the cost of my lost left leg, I guess, hence the joke…. okay, I admit, it’s quite funny.
Not only did we have the fastest check in we’d ever had, but everyone was so kind and helpful, especially the team at Tui. One shake of my Genium X3 and airport workers suddenly appeared, ushering my family and I to the front of every single queue, whizzing us on to the next section of our travels. I felt like the Pied Piper, my leg the magic flute.
I’d been so worried about security asking me to remove my prosthesis, but all they did was swab the outside of the socket to check for drugs. Phew. I was clean.
In summary, flying as an amputee is 100 times easier than flying as a two-legged person. Yes there were stairs and ramps, escalators and long walk-ways and but if you can move well with your prosthesis, you’ll be fine. And if you’re ever stuck in a queue, just give it a shake and watch the magic happen.
On a side note, my little leg didn’t swell up like a bag of crisps. I kept the prosthetic on the whole flight and noticed absolutely no difference in socket fit at any point on the journey.
Success! Amputees, go travel!
Having skied every year since I was 3-years-old, I was desperate to get back onto the slopes.
The team at Dorset Orthopaedic organised a session at the Snowdome with Disability Snowsport UK – two hours to try three different methods of skiing – yes, it was as tiring as it sounds!
Pro Carve
The first method was the Pro-Carve, a custom-made skiing prosthesis.
It was very fancy and took two prosthetists (I think one, Alastair, just came along for a jolly) to calibrate and attach to my socket, but once on, it enabled me to get back on the snow for the first time in over a year.
I don’t know whether it was the fact that everything just felt so weird and clunky that I declared it a hard no after a couple of rubbish runs of no more than three meters that ended with me against the padded walls, unable to turn or stop.
Three-Track Skiing
We hastily moved onto the three-track skiing. Basically I was on one leg with two poles that had little skis on the bottom – outriggers. This, I found, even harder!
And how on earth I’d enjoy the après ski mid-mountain at La Folie Douche with just one leg and one ski boot I have no clue, so we ditched that method as well.
Genium X3
Once again, my Genium X3 came to the rescue. My taleo prosthetic foot was shoved into a standard ski boot and with one click of my Ottobock App my leg was in ski-mode.
I’m not going to pretend it was perfect, it wasn’t, it was heartbreakingly difficult, but I found this method the best of the three, plus it means I’ll be able to walk around the ski villages as normal and enjoy the après ski with two ski boots on two legs.
The video below shows how far I have to go, but I’m determined to get there and enjoy the mountains once more.
On Tuesday 29th Nov 2022, exactly 6 months post-amputation and 1 month post-treatment, I got back in the pool. I’d not swam for almost a year. A year-from-hell that saw my aerobic fitness drop to around 5% of my peak levels, my left leg now half the size with missing foot, a buckle fracture on my wrist and a stone lighter in weight. But I got in and I had a go. Emily Brader, my amazing physiotherapist from Dorset Orthopaedic, encouraged me to try a length of front crawl and I was surprised at how natural my stroke still felt. Backcrawl was the same, barely any difference and I wasn’t swimming in circles as I’d worried I might.
Next thing I know, Wayne Davies, the City Of Derby Swimming Club’s Para Head Coach was peering down at me having spotted me from a lesson he happened to be teaching in the smaller pool. I’m confident he didn’t just leave the children to fend for themselves, but he did spend the next few minutes timing my swims with rough estimates of what I’d need to ‘be up there.’
I’m not quite sure how, but I absolutely smashed those ‘up there’ times and have been asked to trial for their squad in the new year. Hopefully my wrist fracture will have healed and my aerobic fitness will have improved, I’m not expecting my little leg to grow back, but I’m thankful that its mammoth effort in the water got me noticed.
