Patient who faced amputation goes home walking

My name is Derrick Ayebo. I'm 46 years old. I had a car accident way back in August. 2021 in West Africa, Ghana. I came back to the UK in November, in the middle of November, 2021. And I was at Luton and Dunstable to check on a slight leakage, I would say, from my left knee after the initial surgeries and they detected some form of severe infection which they felt they couldn't handle. And then they transferred me up to Cambridge - Addenbrooke's.

I would say that's my first time even being in a hospital for any length of time. So it has gone by relatively speaking quite quickly I would say. The treatment has been basically to take out internal metalwork in my leg and replace it with external metalwork to aid the fractures, to be stable.

And it's been great, to be honest with you. I mean, I think it's been life changing, because I was sitting at home unaware I was borderline septicemic. I think they call it septicemia, which was mainly close to losing the neck or losing my life. For somebody who was let's say, before the accident, highly independent, to be in this situation has brought a different perspective on life.

You know, it has, it's made me realize that you can be helped, you know. So it's been wonderful in that aspect because the team has been a great team from the consultant. Doctor Kerkovic to his secretaries, Elizabeth and the whole team, Doctor Raul, you know, Doctor Alex, the whole team, they've just been wonderful, you know. As for the orthopedic team, I can't speak highly enough of them.

And being here for so long, I've seen the magic they do, because I've been in a bay with five other patients, including me six. So I would say I've been privileged to meet more than a hundred different people in my four month stint. You know, people who come in from car accidents, falling off ladders at home, and I see how people are helped and, you know, they come in, in trouble and they go home happy and they're all appreciative. When you see them going home and they're smiling and laughing. It's different to when they came in all sad and some crying.

At first it was very tough. It was very tough because initially I didn't know I'd be here, I never dreamt I'll be here even a week because I thought it was just, you know, I just thought I was coming in maybe for some antibiotics to clean up an infection or something.

They had to escalate the whole treatment to open me up and take out the old metalwork inside and put on outside metalwork. Like I said, I was highly independent and I was quite, I would say for a 45 year old, I was quite strong. You know, I trained daily, I used to like going to the gym and trying to keep myself in good shape and everything.

So being in a situation that you can't even use your two legs and can't even use one of your arms, it was tough. Physically I would say you go through pain barriers that you didn't think you could go through. So many people have invested so much into this recovery, not only me, I've realised. Because this team, it's like a family now, so I'm not doing this just for myself and my immediate family, I want to do this for the team as well.

I want to make them feel that all their time and effort has not gone to waste. So whatever the pain, if it's too much, "Oh no I can't..." no. There is no I can't do it. You must do it. You must do it. To be frank, I just am happy to be alive, number one. I'm happy to still have my limbs, number two. I'm just happy to be in such an environment, to be honest with you.

Like I said, you hear so many, sorry to say, horror stories of hospital stays and I've not got a bad word to say about this ward, to be honest with you, I've just found myself very lucky.

I've been in a good place, great environment. They were all very caring, you know, all of them. They just be wonderful, to be frank. They really care. They really do.