One year on: Life with my robot leg

At the end of October 2017, just before my 40th birthday, I got my Genium X3 leg, thanks to the amazing generosity of everyone who supported the Legless@40 fundraising campaign.

It’s been a whole year since then, and that seems like a good time to share an update of how things are going with my new robot leg. Robot leg is what it’s been called by the children (mine and others) for a long time, and it just fits so well for this wonderful limb. It is incredibly high-tech. I sometimes feel like the rest of my body needs an upgrade to catch up with it!

It is great for me to look back over the last year and to recognise how much things have changed and how far I have come. As with most things, adapting to a new prosthetic is a journey, and I am still learning and progressing, but this is a great point to stop and notice all the things that I can do with this leg that I couldn’t before.

I sat down to make a list and it is a great mix of the marvellous and the mundane, but it is all life-changing for me:

• I can pick my children up for a cuddle
• I don’t plan every step
• I go to new places by myself
• I’ve had a go at archery
• I’ve been on a see-saw
• I can pick raspberries in our garden and plant things
• Going swimming is so much easier (the leg is waterproof so I don’t need to take my wheelchair like I used to and I can walk in the pool which is brilliant rehab)
• I can walk on sand and have loved walking on to beaches
• I can get down on the floor to play games with my kids, and get back up!
• I go out without my sticks sometimes
• My balance is SO much better
• I can pick things up from the floor without holding on to anything
• I don’t worry about falling like I used to
• I can walk round the park and help the kids on the swings or climbing frame
• I’ve been camping
• I can carry a basket of laundry (if I’m honest this one has lost it’s shine with repetition over the past year!)
• I’ve been in the sea and caught my children as they were body-boarding in! (I haven’t tried body-boarding myself yet, but who knows...)
• I can dance (a bit - there is definitely room for more progress here)
• I’ve taken each of my children away by myself for special outings, and managed bowling and swimming with them
• I feel much freer and more independent

And I’m sure there are many more things that I can’t call to mind right now, but I just wanted to share with you a picture of how much of a difference this leg has made to me, and take another opportunity to thank you all wholeheartedly for your contributions to buying the leg, and for the support and encouragement you have given me. Life is by no means perfect or easy, and there are still challenges with my health and with adjusting to life as an amputee, but this leg has removed a lot of the barriers and I am enormously grateful. Thank you!

Emma