Bury St Edmunds man who was told he would never walk again set to overcome the odds
Doctors had told Neil Aldous that he was lucky to be alive but would never walk again following a horror smash last year.
He had been given just a 10 per cent chance of survival and had his left leg amputated at the hip, after he was involved in a motorbike crash in Westley Lane, last March.
Now 11 months on Neil from Bury St Edmunds is battling to walk again and is due to be fitted with a prosethetic leg in the next few weeks.
“It will give me a little bit of my independence back. I keep fighting.
“I have down days now. I have days when I just cannot be bothered.
“ I keep setting myself goals the first was to get out of my chair and every time I achieve one I set myself another goal further out of reach.”
Wife Carol said: “They said it was too high an amputation to even consider a prosethetic leg. It was a real shock when they turned around in October and said ‘We think we can do something.’
“It has given him a real determination. It’s amazing. Even now I’ve come down and he was out in his wheelchair cleaning the car.”
The change of fortune has happened because a bone in Neil’s hip joint has fused back together, giving him the strength to be able to wear a prosthetic leg.
“When I tried it on it feels weird. I cannot feel that I have a leg there. It is going to be a major thing to get used to but I’ll get there,” said Neil.
Carol said: “We are both excited but a bit scared. Obviously there are going to be a few falls.
“But it is a positive outlook and we are hoping that he will be able to go back into work although he won’t be driving lorries like he did before.
“It will give him his independence back.”
Meanwhile Neil who undergoes physiotherapy at West Suffolk Hospital three times a week says he still cannot remember the crash.
“I’ve not been able to get closure on the accident. It haunts me every day,” he said.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
