PA 9: 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…

BA 8: A Key Moment

After over two months in hospital being pumped full of powerful antibiotics and seeing very little reduction in the severity of my infection, it was becoming depressingly clear that the previously suggested “six weeks” of treatment was going to need to be extended…

PA 8: 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…

BA 7: 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 cafĂ© 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…