On 14 January, 2007, I hit a road sign at 60 mph on my motorbike. According to the discharge notice I suffered: multiple facial fractures – Lefort III, crushed T4, 5, 6, spinal cord contusion, pulmonary contusions, small splenic laceration, # L 5th and 4th MC distal phalanx, L tibial #, undisplaced, ruptured ACL with distal avulsion #, MCL L knee.
I’m not sure what all that means, but I can tell you that I have five metal plates in my face, I get a bit of backache and I’m about an inch shorter than I used to be. It’s not the big things that have caused the biggest problems for me. Despite breaking most of the bones in my face and breaking my back, it was a clean break to my tibia and twisting my knee that kept me in a wheelchair for 18 months.
Due to nerve damage around my knee, I was unable to move my foot or put it flat on the floor. My Achilles tendon was released and I had a Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF) fitted. The frame was used to move and hold my foot in the right position so I could put it flat on the floor.
The limb reconstruction team at King’s College Hospital made it possible for me to walk through the use of a TSF.