Life after an amputation ......
Life. It's unexpected. It's unexplainable sometimes, but it's life. You never think it's going to happen to you. You always hear about tragedy, disaster, unexpected events in the news, in the media and whilst we try not to take this life for granted, you really never expect such events to happen to you…. Well, it happened, December 2021. It happened to us.
In an unforeseeable turn of events, farm tragedy struck and my husband Aaron ended up significantly injuring himself, losing his leg to machinery and requiring an above knee amputation. The initial response from Aaron was incredible, scooting along his back to cut off the tractor to be able to hear emergency services give him advice, tourniqueted his own leg and saving his own life. As I approached him I could immediately see the loss of limb, but despite this he was alert, focused and strong in character, able to provide me guidance to direct the incoming emergency services. My response - stay calm! He just needs to get through this and we can rehabilitate any injury. I've never prayed so hard in my life!!
So at this time, our boys, our 8 and 10-month-old, and our first thoughts were, “how are we going to manage? Do we need to sell our farm? What does life look like for us? Can Aaron work?. But those thoughts were only there for a brief couple of days. Straight after surgery, Aaron woke up, raring to go. His sense of humour was alive, with aspirations to beat Dylan Alcott (he's on his way don't worry) and a huge fighting spirit. Despite such an amazing attitude it has still been tough! Living with limb loss is not easy and has its challenges, as does the huge adjustment to life for all of us.
Last week (17-23 October) was Limb Difference Awareness Week. An opportunity to shine the light on people living with limb differences. It's not easy. There are many challenges, and each individual will experience these differently. I asked Aaron what one of his biggest challenges were and his answer was getting out of bed in the morning. I probed a little further, worried about mental health. But the biggest issue is fatigue. It is getting out of bed in the morning, knowing how tired you are, and knowing how tired every activity from the day is going to make you. It's hard also knowing that previously, this wasn't an issue, unless pulling 100 hour weeks during harvest.
There is so much to say, but I thought we could share a few things we have learnt from this experience so far.
We have an amazing and incredible village that rallied around us and supported us more than we could have ever imagined
Like most people we are not good at asking for help, but we have learnt to ask for and accept help when we need it, and we are so grateful for everyone who has been there to help us in any way possible.
Our house was NOT designed for a wheelchair - we are currently problem solving this with the support of our OT and the NDIS
WE NEED A TEAM! We have an amazing team of people supporting us - from support workers, cleaners, Occupational therapists, Physiotherapists, psychologists, our support coordinator, our village and US!
The value of connection and community. How important it is to take the time to say g’day to your neighbours, make time for friends and family. Life is short, unpredictable and too precious, so make the most of it.
Stigma around disabilities is still present in our community. We experience this first hand. Quite often children and their inquisitive minds will look, get excited about Aaron’s “robot leg”, only to be hushed by their parents. It would be so amazing if children and adults could engage, converse, acknowledge, ask questions and see the person not the disability.
Opportunity arises when you least expect it. Despite this event changing our lives in so many ways - it has provided so many opportunities for Aaron to build connection and community. It's a whole new world!!
Above all we have learnt that our boys have an extremely resilient, strong and determined father who is willing to take all the opportunities life has to offer. In less than 12 months Aaron has returned to part time work, played multiple wheelchair basketball tournaments locally, resumed snowboarding and joined the NSW/ACT wheelchair AFL team . Even more impressive is the number of tennis tournaments he has played and the International tennis federation (ITF) world ranking - look out Dylan!!. Who would have even thought it was possible to achieve so much in such a short time?? I am so excited to see where life will take Aaron and know that whatever path he chooses he will succeed.
Tahnee
