Unicorns are a blessing!

Hi, I’m Alison, wife to Tony and mum to Ethan and Amelia.

My journey of being a below knee amputee started in November of 2009, when I was eight weeks pregnant and was diagnosed with a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis). Two weeks later the DVT had spread to my lungs and caused me to get 5 PEs (Pulmonary Embolisms). To save my life and my unborn baby, I had to start injecting myself with Clexane, a blood thinner. One stunning Saturday morning, in January of 2010, I wasn’t feeling the best with all that I had going on with my pregnancy and the blood clots, so thought I should get myself to my GP, just for a check-up and to put my mind at rest.

My husband had his car, and my dad was over from Tasmania and had mine, so I didn't have a car to drive to the doctors. I decided that I would go on my 50cc Vespa. When I wasn’t too far away from the doctors, a lady that appeared to be talking on her mobile phone did a U-turn and hit me with her 4wd. I sustained a degloving, compound fractures to my left leg, a broken right ankle and some gravel rash. I was very blessed that I didn’t end up with any head or internal injuries and I was still pregnant.

I needed emergency surgery to repair my leg and had an external fixator put on my leg which was later removed and an Ilizarov frame was applied. Over the next 6 years I had 13 operations to save my leg and to try and give me and my little family some sort of normality.

Decision day, or maybe it was, "I’m done" day. March 2016, I couldn’t exercise, play sport, work, go shopping or even carry my 5-month-old daughter. That’s when I came to the conclusion that I would like to have my leg amputated. I went and saw the surgeon that initially saved my leg on that fateful Saturday in 2010, and told him my thoughts and wishes. On Thursday 30 June 2016 I became an elective below knee amputee and I haven’t looked back. Being an amputee isn’t all rainbows and butterflies and we must work on these things. When life gives you lemons you must perfect the recipe and make lemonade rather than just producing lemon juice.

In May of 2018 after I had just got my definitive leg, I was able to compete in a 4km fun run! It was the first time in 8 years that I was able to wear a pair of matching shoes, to exercise and be out doing something on two legs and not in my wheelchair!

Fun Fact: Did you know that a collective noun for unicorns is a Blessing? All my sockets that I have had over the last 8 years have had unicorns on them, a tradition that I will continue. I believe that having my amputation has been a blessing.