Woman regains function in arm after 19 years

A WOMAN who was unable to properly use her arm after a cycling accident 19 years ago has thanked surgeons in Yorkshire who successfully restored the use of the limb with a prosthetic bone.

Julie Martin, 67, fractured her elbow when she fell off her bike in 1998 and lost function in her left arm. Despite numerous operations, she was still unable to perform simple tasks with her arm which led to her leaving her job.

But cutting-edge surgery at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, to replace her humerus with a custom-made prosthesis, has now given her back significant function.

Mrs Martin, from Hampshire, said: “I am immensely grateful to the surgeons and the team that looked after me, not only for their skills but also the kindness and respect with which I was treated.

“I now have so much more movement in my arm and this has made a real difference to my everyday life. The level of pain has reduced drastically.”

Following the accident, she underwent more than 20 operations in an attempt to restore function in the arm, including bone and skin-grafts. Mrs Martin, who is left-handed, was eventually referred to experts in Sheffield in 2006.

She said the changed her life.

“I couldn’t lift my arm above waist height and I had to support it with my right arm,” Mrs Martin said. “I had to give up driving, which was a big thing for me as I was quite an independent person.

“Although my employers were very good, eventually I had to give up my job, which I had loved.”

A previous bone graft in 2010 was a success until a fall in the garden damaged the arm again. The new injury and previous operations meant Mrs Martin had only a small amount of bone remaining in her upper arm.

In the latest procedure, the lost bone was replaced with a custommade metal prosthesis, manufactured by a specialist firm in America. initial injury