A Helping Hand

On the 16th October 2010 Sam was cleaning up after her cat when she snapped the end of her middle finger. She was diagnosed with a mallet finger injury.

After a few weeks her finger did not look the best and she was stuck with it rudely fixed in position. She had zero movement in the finger, even while going to physio.

In February 2011 Sam was seen by hand surgeon who diagnosed her with CRPS (Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome) and she had a course of nerve blocks done and more physio. After this there was still no movement what so ever. After a lot of discussion with surgeon Sam had her finger amputated on the 10th August 2011. Within a few weeks the other fingers became deformed.

Sam was then referred to pain team in Guy's and St Thomas' hospital London. She was given a Spinal Cord Stimulator in 2012 but this had to be removed due to a lead migration.

In August 2013 Sam went into day clinic to have a manipulation of the the hand and a nerve block under general anaesthetic but it all went wrong and she ended up having a punctured lung due to the nerve block. She had an emergency chest drain fitted while she was awake then had to go into intensive care.

In Feb 2014 her hand and wrist completely dropped and she ended up living in a cast just to keep it straight. The pain was just awful and she decided to go a head with full amputation of her hand and wrist.

So on the the 25th November 2014 this surgery was done. Since then she has also had 2 more Spinal Cord Stimulator fitted to help with pain.

Sam owns and looks after 6 dogs and 2 cats. Walking and feeding them all can be a huge struggle but day in and day out she carries on with it without complaining or feeling sorry for herself. She struggles with everyday task and often need help but would love to have her own independence.

Even through all this she still puts everyone and everything before her and tries to carry on living a normal life.

A Bionic Hand

We are trying to raise £30000 to purchase a robotic hand for Sam.

http://bebionic.com/the_hand

This hand will help her through most of her day to day task. Picking up a cup of tea, feeding the dogs, cutting her food.

Previously Sam had become a qualified flower arranger. With the help of this bionic hand she can finally put that qualification to use.

This hand will give her the independence and quality of life that she deserves.