I have spent 20 years helping my arm: Prosthetic specialist Patients who have lost an arm. Then I lost on his fightback after near-fatal accident
Mum speaks out to raise awareness and remove stigma of leprosy I really wanted to speak to someone who had overcome this but there was no one. It’s always good to know we are not alone in our struggle
For almost 20 years, Jim Ashworth-beaumont helped build prosthetics for patients who had lost limbs and aided their rehabilitation.
Next week, he will return to work with a different perspective – after losing an arm in a cycling accident.
Six months ago, Jim, a prosthetist and orthotist, was on his way to work at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London when he was knocked down by an articulated lorry. The 40-ton truck rolled over the 54-year-old, severing his right arm, and caused so much damage that Jim almost died.
“I was still conscious up until the ambulance arrived and 99% sure I was going to die,” he recalled. “Those were the odds at that moment. I remember the sirens. I remember hearing people talking in the background. It was terrifying.”
Jim, who comes from Edinburgh, was airlifted to hospital where he spent five weeks in a coma. As well as losing his arm above the elbow, he sustained nerve damage in his leg, spinal fractures, broken bones in his face and arms, and a fracture in every single rib in his body. The main artery to his liver was so damaged that doctors had to cut away 80% of the organ to save his life.
“They tidied up what was left of my arm and then I had an awful lot of surgery,” Jim recalled. “A lot of skin was grafted on to my chest and my abdomen where it had been torn away. Thankfully I was asleep throughout. It was so strange. I was dreaming all the time. I thought I was in the afterlife. The weirdest thing was seeing the faces of my wife and kids. I couldn’t work out whether I was dead and they were as well, or whether I was still alive.”
Jim’s family thought he had been through the worst, but worse was yet to come: “My kidneys packed in, I got sepsis and, about a week after the accident, I went into multiple organ failure.”
At one point, Jim’s family were so sure he might not survive that his 25-year-old said. “In fact, the first time triathlon at the time of the son Sam stepped in to offer I got a word out was at the accident, has recovered to the one of his own kidneys to end of August when my mum extent that he is now able to his dad. “When I realised came from Edinburgh to see complete 10k runs. the sacrifice he was prepared me in hospital. It was her 80th “Before the accident, I was to make, I realised just birthday,” he said. the fittest I could ever be, but how close to not making it “I think that’s when the I’ve basically had to learn I was,” said Jim. “It makes fight set in and I told myself I how to do everything again,” me quite emotional.” was going to get better. That said Jim. “Stamina is what I
Thankfully, dialysis helped was the turning point.” know. And I think that is what stabilise his condition The former Royal Marine has got me through. and a transplant wasn’t left hospital in November “Physically I am different, needed. When the dad of and since then has been but mentally there is two eventually came to, putting himself through his something I savour about more than a month after paces with intense physio having a challenge. And, with the accident in July, he was and training in the hope of every day feeling like I have completely incapacitated. speeding up his recovery. an Everest to climb, you can’t
“I couldn’t speak and The competitive runner, say I don’t have a challenge. didn’t even have the physical cyclist and fitness coach, “I might not be signing up strength to hold a pen,” he who had been training for a for triathlons any more, but
I might not be signing up for triathlons any more,
are still impeding those with differences in ability. I don’t feel as welcome in this society as I used to. An important future goal for me is to incorporate this new level of awareness into my service to patients.”
Jim hopes to have a specialist prosthetic arm fitted using a technique called osseointegration, in which the device is implanted into the bone.
But with the prosthetic and surgery not available the challenges are right in Keri had been his rock to work on February 8, albeit “These things can be on the NHS, treatment will front of me. I have had to through everything. “She has from home, hopes to be gradual or come from be funded through money adapt and learn new things helped me every step of the fitted with a prosthetic arm sudden, life-changing collected by Jim’s sisters, Lisa such as left-handed writing way. Keri has had to live with and hand which will allow events, but they impact an and Nicky, who set up an and drawing, tying shoelaces my frustration at not being him to get back on to the ability to do something. online appeal while he was and even how to juggle a able to do the things I did wards helping patients again, “My role is all about taking still in a coma. mobile phone. before. She has rearranged rather than being confined a problem and solving it for So far, family, friends,
“Training within new our home – and her life – to to a research role behind the someone so they can have a colleagues and well-wishers limitations, such as my fit around me. I don’t know scenes. better quality of life. But this have pledged more than breathing, is all new, too. But where I would be without her. “I love my job. And now accident has opened my eyes £100,000, about half of the there is so much I can do. “On the day of the I can empathise with my to so much. money needed for the new The doctors initially told me accident, she was cooking patients even more. I create “Even though I’ve worked arm and hand, surgery, and I would need to change my dinner waiting for me to and fit prosthetics for in the rehabilitation field long-term maintenance. mental attitude because it come home. I wasn’t carrying children who have lost limbs for almost two decades, I Jim is hopeful the operation takes time, but that’s not in any ID so she hadn’t been through illness like cancer, have been surprised by the can go ahead this year. “I’m my nature. I feel most alive notified I was in hospital. adults who have lost arms power of the simple things – overwhelmed,” he said. “It’s when I am pushing myself When she eventually heard and legs in traffic accidents, I extra locks on doors, zips on heart-warming to think that and am now exercising twice the news and got there, she make spinal braces for people clothing, toilet roll holders so many people have gone a day, six days a week.” thought I was going to die.” with spinal deformities, and on the right – to show me above and beyond to help.”
Jim said his selfless wife Jim, who is due to return fit splints. that functional barriers Jim hopes for a hybrid arm but the challenges are right in front of me. This accident has opened my eyes to so much with a multi-grip powered hand and rotating wrist, and with a body-powered elbow to get maximum dexterity with low weight. He also hopes to have an activityspecific prosthetic made to balance his body for exercise.
“I make artificial limbs using a high degree of manual dexterity, so losing a hand is a bit of an issue!” said Jim. “The new hand is the most life-like you can get. The NHS prosthetics are great, but they are basic. The hi-tech models are expensive and most need to be funded privately. The hope is that by obtaining a prosthetic with a bit more technology behind it, I’ll be able to carry on doing what I love.”
He added: “What has happened to me has made me realise that you just need to make the best of what you’ve got. The downsides have by far been outweighed by the good.
“And it has been a stark lesson in what’s important in life, and whatever it throws at us, we just have to roll with it and hope for the best.”
– Subodha Handhi
Subodha Handhi can easily understand the world’s reaction as we face a rare and deadly virus that leaves doctors baffled.
She has already endured that turmoil of fear and uncertainty, not because of Covid but leprosy.
In 2010, newly married and living in London while studying for a degree, the now 33-year-old was struck down by excruciating, debilitating pain in her left arm that left doctors baffled.
Painkillers had little effect and, when hospital tests were inconclusive, Subodha returned to her native Sri Lanka to consult with a neurologist. It was only then experts discovered she was suffering from leprosy.
“I couldn’t sleep because the pain was so severe,” said Subodha, who grew up in the Sri Lankan capital of
Colombo but now lives in Paisley. “We never considered leprosy – to me, it was an old-fashioned disease that didn’t exist any more. Doctors did scans and tests and everything came back clear. My neurologist only suspected leprosy because I had a pale-coloured patch on my arm.
“When I did get the diagnosis, I was shocked. I remember my mum and I just turned around and asked, ‘What is leprosy?’”
Leprosy is a bacterial infection which causes nerve damage and, when left untreated, can lead to a loss of feeling or mobility in the hands, feet and around the eyes. A loss of sensation can mean burns, blisters and other minor injuries go unnoticed, often leading to disfigurement and disability, while damage to the eyes can leave sufferers blind.
Although there is now effective treatment, in many countries, stigma still surrounds the disease – something Subodha witnessed first-hand.
Today marks World Leprosy Day,
when campaigners and charities come together to raise awareness of the condition, and Subodha hopes that by sharing her story she can help to dispel misconceptions.
She said: “When I was diagnosed with leprosy, I really wanted to speak to someone who had overcome the disease. There were so many things I wanted to ask, but there was no one. It’s always good to know we are not alone in our struggle, and I hope my story will empower others.
“It’s still a stigmatised disease, mainly because there are myths and misconceptions. I even experienced discrimination from doctors. I actually stigmatised myself, because I wrongly thought my fingers and my toes were going to fall off.”
Subodha and her husband, Sumedha, 42, returned to the UK in December 2010, where she began multi-drug therapy. Although now free from leprosy, she has been left with limited mobility in one arm, numbness in her toes and feet and ongoing pain, which she described as “like 100 people continuously sticking you with pins and needles”.
The couple planned to settle in Sri Lanka but Subodha, despite holding a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s in finance, found it hard to secure work. They made the decision to move to Scotland, where the mum of two is now a part-time associate lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, while also completing a PHD, and they are looking forward to a brighter future – with Subodha expecting a third child later this year.
“Life was not as easy as I expected when we returned home,” said Subodha. “I remember someone said to me, ‘Who would give someone with a disability a job when they can hire a non-disabled person?’ I was lucky my parents were there for me, and my husband was amazing.
“The culture is so different in Sri Lanka, so we haven’t told some relatives about my diagnosis. They just don’t need to know.”