The magazine for limbless veterans THE (SECOND) DAY LAMIN’S LIFE CHANGED FOREVER The Blesma Member, the TV programme and the future King of England Swing when Bigger, bolder, This is the future you’re winning! better Blesma of rehabilitation Seven Blesma Members Just a few of the top An exclusive look at the formed the driving force stories that made 2015 UK’s plans to build the behind Team GB’s latest another great year for most advanced medical Simpson Cup success p 44 the Association p30 facility in the world p38 CONTENTS Inside the Winter 2015 issue News DIRECT SKELETAL FIXATION 04 44 The Chancellor announces a pilot study into ground-breaking surgery for amputees 04 SPOTLIGHT ON... 10 Prosthetist Craig Brodie, who played a vital role as part of the Soldier Ride support team THE FUTURE LOOKS HI-TECH 16 BSO (Prosthetics) Brian Chenier looks ahead to the advances in the world of prosthetics Features LEST WE FORGET 22 32 On parade with Blesma Members as they pay their respects at the Cenotaph HOW TO... 30 From competing in the X Games to dancing on Strictly, Members have had a full year PRINCE WILLIAM PAINTED THAT 32 Lamin Manneh, the star of TV programme DIY SOS, shows us around his new home 22 THE FUTURE OF REHAB 38 A sneaky peak behind the doors of the new Defence National Rehabilitation Centre USEFUL CONTACTS Editorial Activities PR and Media HAT TRICK HEROES 44 020 8548 3513 020 8548 7094 020 8548 7092 Team GB ‘putt’ America’s golfers in their [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] place with a third Simpson Cup success Membership Services Fundraising You can also follow us 020 8548 3515 020 8548 3517 on Twitter @BLESMA A Day in the Life [email protected] [email protected] Stay in touch. JESS MARCH 50 Have you got a great story you’d like to tell? Do you want help publicising an event Meet Blesma’s new Activities Manager and p or expedition that you’re planning? Then get in touch with us at [email protected] find out why you should get involved in 2016 Special thanks to: Lisa Aston, Brian Chenier, Frank Garside, Barry Le Grys, Jess March, Emily Mizon, Heather Nicholson, Bryony Stevens, Sue Stokes, Ian Waller Blesma Magazine is published on behalf of the British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association (Blesma) by ScratchCreate. British Limbless Ex-Service Men’s Association Charity Numbers: England, Wales & N Ireland 1084189, Scotland SC010315; Company Limited Guarantee No. 4102768. Contact ScratchCreate at [email protected] or [email protected] Printed by Wyndeham Grange. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publishers. 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Publication date: Winter 2015. © ScratchCreate 2015. www.blesma.org 03 News, views and opinion NEWS from the world of Blesma p NEWS ANALYSIS Chancellor announces £2m pilot for 1 ‘life changing’ DSF surgery Operation previously unavailable in the UK could change the lives of some of the most severely injured Service personnel The report draws on Jon’s experiences and interviews with lesma has welcomed the recent veterans to ensure this pilot programme veterans, clinicians announcement in the Chancellor’s benefits those veteran amputees most and health service Autumn Statement that funding in need,” said Blesma Chief Executive administrators Bfrom banking fines will be used Barry Le Grys. to conduct and evaluate a pilot programme “We will work closely with the MoD, on Direct Skeletal Fixation (DSF) surgery. the NHS and the UK Departments of DSF, also known as osseointegration, Health to determine the referral pathway has not been available before in the UK. for the DSF pilot, and to help identify The procedure, during which a titanium eligible and suitable veterans for the rod is permanently inserted into the bone, programme. We will continue to support allowing a prosthetic to be attached, can our Members and, where necessary, help be life changing for some of the most guide those who might be eligible for injured Service personnel and veterans consideration of Direct Skeletal Fixation as it eliminates the need for a socket. through the entire process.” The money will fund 20 patients over The referral pathway could also act as two and a half years from April 2016. The a second opinion for veteran amputees for operations will be carried out at the Queen whom getting suitable sockets has been Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, with difficult as DSF could provide them with follow on rehabilitation at Headley Court. an alternative route. Referral of patients Blesma has campaigned hard for from one clinician to another already closer collaboration between the various happens within the NHS. However, what government departments that deal with would be new is the second opinion being the most complex traumatic injuries. provided by Defence Medical Services. “As the expert Service charity on living with limb loss, Blesma is looking forward For advice on prosthetics contact Brian to playing a leading role in communicating Chenier, BSO Prosthetics, on 020 8548 with Service charities and individual 7080 or at [email protected] 04 www.blesma.org Remembrance Day On parade at the Cenotaph (p22) A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO OSSEOINTEGRATION welcome Direct Skeletal Fixation (DSF), otherwise When asked, I find it surprisingly difficult to explain known as osseointegration, has only Blesma. ‘Service charity’ simply doesn’t seem to do it. been used in amputations since 1995. I draw attention to the ‘a’, explaining that we are people A highly-advanced external component with things in common, more than may immediately (a prosthesis) is attached directly to spring to mind, who have come together. There is the human skeleton through a ‘trans- limb loss, but even that doesn’t wholly do it. It’s a lot cutaneous bone anchoring device’ to do with spirit and that togetherness thing. I try to or, put more simply, a metal rod. The explain that, to varying degrees, we may be physically procedure has, until now, not been available in the UK. challenged, some acutely, but this can serve to motivate. There is an inspiring, shared drive to get on, to live life to the full, and that A titanium rod is inserted into the is what we are so very much about; together with friends, supporters and middle of the bone using a technique the membership itself, helping Members as required to achieve and so similar to that in a hip replacement overcome. There for life then, in the fullest sense, with passion to match. 1 operation. Small fins stick out from the Let me try to illustrate some of this by drawing on several examples from rod to keep it in place in the first few this year, and highlighting what is planned for next year. weeks. The rod’s surface is also Through the year we have continued to campaign, most notably with Jon sprayed with a highly porous plasma White producing a report that should improve provision of prosthetics – that allows the bone to grow into it, a fine example of the Member helping Member(s) principle. Two more BSOs producing an incredibly strong bond. joined the team, to cover London and the South East, and Scotland and 2 At the base of the stump the skin heals Ireland. On the activities front, we have remained inspirationally ‘physical’. to the bone to form a seal around the There was Soldier Ride around the West Country, finishing at The Royal implant. The base of the rod, which Hospital Chelsea. Davie Timmins cycled with the FELIX RAAM team across protrudes through the skin for several the United States, raising £12,000 for the Association. Peter Bowker walked 3 inches, is coated with a bacterial unsupported across the Greenland ice cap, while Grant White and Yanto The report draws repellant, called Niobium Titanium Evans participated in the Land Rover British Rally, winning a stage. Our on Jon’s experiences Oxide, to combat the risk of infection. and interviews with golfers beat the Americans in the Simpson Cup at Royal St George’s. veterans, clinicians There was so much else besides; Cassidy Little’s win in the People’s An attachment at the end of the implant and health service Strictly For Comic Relief and Mark Smith’s bodybuilding. allows an off-the-shelf prosthesis to administrators It also gives great pleasure to note our determined move into the arts, be clipped on and off in a matter of photography in particular getting up a serious head of steam, including an seconds. The entire procedure is usually carried out with two operations, exhibition at The Mall Galleries. Members have also featured in the performing eight weeks apart. arts; Swifty has been cast in a new play for the West End in April 2016 and the hard-hitting film of our Members’ actions in Afghanistan at the Kajaki Dam, on which they also advised, has won numerous awards. Looking ahead, four Members are currently rowing across the Atlantic and we shall be strongly represented at the Invictus Games in Orlando, and the Paralympics in Rio in 2016.