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Claire Stephens raised £10,819 from 125 supporters

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Closed 01/04/2018

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£10,819
raised of £72,000 target by 125 supporters

    Weʼve raised £10,819 to support amputee ex-soldier Michael Clough who is battling to raise funds for pioneering surgery so he can walk again.

    Funded on Sunday, 1st April 2018

    Don't have time to donate right now?

    Story

    Michael’s story

    “I had my amputation in August 2015 and now it’s more than two years later and I haven’t been able to wear my high-tech prosthetic leg. It’s like having a Ferrari and not being able to drive it. I need this procedure so I can get my life back.”

    I am 36-years-old and served with 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment between 2009 and 2014. As a corporal in the infantry regiment I suffered a complex open fracture of my leg after a parachute jump in 2012 which led to a devastating bone infection and osteomyelitis. I was injured on a pre-deployment training exercise in Cyprus after being selected for the elite Brigade Reconnaissance Force. Ironically, I had been deployed in Afghanistan and travelled to Cyprus for the elite training.

    After three years, 12 rounds of surgery and other therapies, my leg was amputated above the knee because of constant pain and life-threatening infection. I was given a state-of-the art prosthetic leg by the military but am still unable to wear it. I now suffer from chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS) that causes waves of agonising pain even at the slightest touch to my residual limb. This makes it impossible to wear the artificial socket that sits over my stump and clips onto the prosthetic limb. For the last two years, I have got around on one leg with crutches. Now, desperate to walk again, I need to raise £72,000 to go to Australia for a bone-implanted prosthetic which is not available on the NHS.

    The loose-fitting socket causes rubbing and pressure points, resulting in infected sores over my stump, leading to further surgeries and potential further limb loss, which I cannot afford. I have had plastic surgery to repair skin on my stump damaged by repeated infection and most recently, to move a neuroma, or collection of nerve tissue which aggravated my chronic pain caused by pressure from the socket.

    In Australia, I could benefit from an innovative procedure called osseointegration. This involves implanting a titanium rod in the bone which protrudes through the remaining leg or stump. An adaptor is fitted onto the implant and then attached to the artificial limb. There is no need to wear a socket and it ensures a good fit with greater stability and control. I will finally be able use my high-tech leg to walk again. The surgery will be carried out by Sydney-based prosthetic expert, Dr Mumjed Al Muderis, who has performed the procedure on more than 250 patients, including four with CRPS, the same chronic pain condition as I have, and I am aware of the risks.

    This fundraising campaign, supported and hosted by Claire Stephens the wound care nurse consultant who has helped care for me post amputation via the registered charity Woundcare4heroes, would pay for the operation and six-weeks post-operative rehabilitation in Australia. I have always worked since leaving the military in 2014 and as such I will be able to cover the cost of flights. I don’t want to have this surgery and sit at home, I have at least 30 years of working life ahead of me and I hope to do amazing things in my work and personal life with the ability to walk freely and be independent.

    Military surgeon Lt Col Steve Jeffery, based at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM) Birmingham, has been pivotal to my surgical and on-going care over the past three years. If donations made to my Walk Again campaign exceed the £72,000 surgery target or for any unforeseen reasons the surgery does not go ahead or alternative funding becomes available, it is my wish for any surplus funds raised to be donated for a new CO2 Laser head for the RCDM surgical unit to support other veterans post combat injury requiring complex scar management and to Woundcare4Heroes the charity which has also been instrumental in providing on-going care to me, to enable fellow ex-military to access similar support.

    Claire’s story:

    I am a wound care specialist nurse and chief executive of veterans’ charity Woundcare4heroes. I’ve supported Michael on his wound healing journey as a clinician during the past couple of years and want to share his story with you as I am desperately trying to help him raise the funds he requires for surgery to give him his life back.

    Michael is unable to wear the artificial socket not only because it hurts to do so but because it is physically impossible. Due to chronic pain, his stump sweats profusely and also changes size, so it no longer fits tightly into the socket and the his artificial leg falls off when he tries to walk.

    Over the past 12 months Michael and I have exhausted every possible avenue available to him to have this surgical procedure. The NHS does not currently fund this procedure and the MoD funded pilot study understandably has limited places and a strict criteria by which they are recruiting multiple amputees in the first cohort. Michael has been informed he does not fit the current criteria for a funded place and moreover the length of time he may have to wait to become eligible for the procedure is unknown. Michael requires this surgery sooner rather than later as the daily use of crutches has a detrimental impact on his whole skeletal posture and may in time further complicate his posture and rehabilitation following the surgery. The only avenue left for Michael is to raise the necessary funds and have the surgery privately.

    Thank you for reading this appeal and for helping make a difference to Michael’s life.

    • To learn more about Michael’s Campaign, WC4H and the CO2 laser visit www.woundcare4heroes.org.uk

    Updates

    17

    • Claire Stephens6 years ago
      Claire Stephens

      Claire Stephens

      6 years ago

      Michael is on his way to Sydney as I write this message ..... surgery taking place this week thank you all for helping Michael to achieve this goal ONWARD and UPWARD Claire x

      Share this update to help us raise more

    • Claire Stephens6 years ago
      Claire Stephens

      Claire Stephens

      6 years ago
      Update from the Page owner

      Share this update to help us raise more

    • Claire Stephens6 years ago
      Claire Stephens

      Claire Stephens

      6 years ago
      Update from the Page owner

      Share this update to help us raise more

    7 years ago

    Claire Stephens started crowdfunding

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    Page last updated on: 4/1/2018 17.08

    Supporters

    125

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      Apr 1, 2018

      £10.00

    • Brian Canning

      Brian Canning

      Mar 3, 2018

      £100.00

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      Feb 18, 2018

    • Anonymous

      Anonymous

      Feb 6, 2018

      Wishing you the best with your fund raising for Michael.

    • Eurocell

      Eurocell

      Feb 6, 2018

      £100.00

    • Ian Firth

      Ian Firth

      Feb 5, 2018

      ON BEHALF OF INTELLIGENT UK LIMITED

      £250.00

    • Christine Walsh

      Christine Walsh

      Jan 31, 2018

      Good luck Rob and the lads!!!

      £20.00

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    About Crowdfunding
    About the fundraiser
    Claire Stephens

    Claire Stephens

    Consultant Nurse in Complex Wound Management - RGN PGCert and PGDip in wound healing.Co-Founder Woundcare4Heroes Former NHS Nurse Specialist Intensive care and Wound Healing Former Captain QARANC Military Medical

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