Author Archives: The HopScot

17: In The Neck Of Time (Part 2)

There I lay, my face covered with a large green sheet and warm fluid flowing uncomfortably freely from my neck.
For a brief moment I though to myself, “Oh come on, I’ve just survived a major infection, open heart surgery, a surprise amputation, kidney failure and now a tiny cut in my neck is going to do me in…

15: In The Neck Of Time (Part 1)

You may think the most unpleasant thing I experienced during my hospital recovery was the pain of a cracked open chest, or perhaps the discomfort of the phantom menace.
Maybe it wasn’t something physical, the trauma of waking to find yourself short a limb can be fairly unpleasant.

However…

British Heart Foundation: The Ticker Tapes Podcast

A couple of months ago I was asked by the British Heart Foundation to have a chat about some of my story in an episode of their podcast series “The Ticker Tapes”.

7 Things I Didn’t Have To Think About Before I Became An Amputee

Many of you reading this will know that I wasn’t always an amputee and if you didn’t know, well now you do.
In fact, for seventeen years, three months and nine days (not that I’ve ever counted it), I was a perfectly healthy biped with nothing more to worry about than a scraped knee, a congenital heart condition and the occasional winter cold…

14: With a Little Help from my Friends.

A couple of weeks into my daily routine of waking up, antibiotics, watching Frasier, more antibiotics, going to the hospital café for a dream ring (best part of the day), antibiotics, playing Minecraft, antibiotics for supper and then sleeping, my mum got a phone call from my head teacher…

7 Things We Wish People Knew About Life With A Heart Condition.

I am part of a group set up by the British Heart Foundation and a couple of weeks ago I posed the question;
What, as young adults, would we like others to understand about living with a heart condition?
There were a number of interesting and varied responses…