We did it!
Claire Stephens raised £10,819 from 125 supporters
or
Start your own crowdfunding page
Closed 01/04/2018
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
- 6 years ago
Claire Stephens
6 years agoMichael 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
- 6 years ago
Claire Stephens
6 years agoShare this update to help us raise more
- 6 years ago
Claire Stephens
6 years agoShare this update to help us raise more
Claire Stephens started crowdfunding
Leave a message of support
Supporters
125
Anonymous
Apr 1, 2018
£10.00
Brian Canning
Mar 3, 2018
£100.00
Anonymous
Feb 18, 2018
Anonymous
Feb 6, 2018
Wishing you the best with your fund raising for Michael.
Eurocell
Feb 6, 2018
£100.00
Ian Firth
Feb 5, 2018
ON BEHALF OF INTELLIGENT UK LIMITED
£250.00
Christine Walsh
Jan 31, 2018
Good luck Rob and the lads!!!
£20.00
What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is a new type of fundraising where you can raise funds for your own personal cause, even if you're not a registered charity.
The page owner is responsible for the distribution of funds raised.
Great people make things happen
Do you know anyone in need or maybe want to help a local community cause?
Create you own page and donʼt let that cause go unfunded!
About CrowdfundingAbout the fundraiser
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