Lohmann & Rauscher partner with Legs Matter to share three incredibly powerful patient stories to 'get loud for legs' during Legs Matter Awareness Week.
This is Angie's story
Angie, a 57 year old outdoor enthusiast, first noticed the symptoms that turned out to be a nightmarish health episode on the return home from a ski trip last Christmas.
I noticed that my left leg was cold from the knee down. I went to bed but I woke up at 1am that morning in immense pain. I took some paracetamol and hoped that it would just go away, but the next morning I got up and couldn’t walk more than 50 metres without excruciating pain. My foot had also started to turn white
At the time Angie didn't know, but the symptoms that she was experiencing were the signs of complications from a popliteal artery aneurysm - a potentially catastrophic leg condition that can cause a sudden lack of blood to the lower leg and foot, and lead to amputation.
Angie was 5 hours away from losing her leg.
Almost six months on from the surgery, Angie is slowly recovering from the significant trauma to her leg. Angie’s experience has made her and her partner Dave determined to make more people aware of just how important leg and foot health is.
“Everyone knows about looking after their heart or knows that they shouldn’t smoke because of the risk of getting lung cancer but no one thinks about their legs or feet. There are so many people whose feet are in a bad condition and they don’t realise that it can go to the leg and you can end up losing them. It’s why I got in touch with the Legs Matter campaign. I want to do anything I can to make people aware of just how important your leg and foot health is.”
Read Angie's story in full on the Legs Matter site.
Visit our common conditions section to view some of the early signs and symptoms to look out for.
If you think that you have any of the signs and symptoms of venous disease, its important that you do something as early as possible to prevent the condition from getting worse. You should contact your GP for advice and next steps in managing your leg health.
