Club Foot Carnage

I was born with a club foot. It’s caused me difficulties all my child and adult life. As a result my knee is now worn out on that leg too (stage 4 - terminal). When I was a teenager I tried to explain my pain to a GP. He didn’t understand the issue at hand and I was ushered away. When I was in my early 20s and earning money, I paid for professionals to make me orthoses that I wore in every training shoe, with a different, lighter set in track spikes. They have a been a game changer. Without them I’d never have broken all the records in sport and achieved what I have. In fact, now without them I struggle to walk. A new pair used to set me back nearly £600 (yes I know). Also, because I’m hyper sensitive to training shoes starting to lose their cushioning, I can only wear them for about 3-4 months before I need to replace them. My annual spend on footwear/orthoses for the last 30 years has probably been in excess of £20k above the average person.

Imagine my distress a few years ago when I was lying stark bollock naked on a lawn being drawn by a group of hens (in a hen party) when another young lady arrived on crutches. A conversation began and she informed me that she’d had her foot smashed up and reset due to her spina bifida. Naturally I asked about the type of orthoses she must wear. Long story short – after I’d shown her mine, she said she had exactly the same ones. When I said how good they were but ‘damned expensive’ she looked at me incredulously. She said she got them via the NHS. I’d always been categorically told the NHS did not supply orthoses of this type. I sort of spluttered incoherently that I was £20k in the hole and that it wasn’t possible to get this type of orthotic on the NHS. She was adamant she had exactly the same insole and she didn’t pay for them.

I don’t object to paying for them – they are lifesavers. I just object to being taken for a mug and the double standard. In March 2020 I bought two pairs of orthoses from my dealer. Covid had just struck – he sent his secretary down to the loading bay behind Northwich Park Hospital and I handed over some cash for my package of life saving orthoses. Alas, by 2022 I’d run out and my dealer seemed to have vanished. My efforts to track him down via the NHS and Northwich Park Hospital came to nought. The NHS insisted there had never been anybody by that name in an office in the basement. He must have walked in off the street then and no one noticed.

I tried formerly complaining to the NHS about the fact that my dealer did in fact exist and maybe, just maybe, they could assist in recommending someone else who could make the product I require. I was fobbed off unceremoniously and told that it wasn’t an NHS issue and I should ask my ‘local care board’. Ready to slit my wrists, I went through old invoices and have actually managed to contact an old dealer who retired to look after his wife nearly 15 years ago. Aged 77, I’ve dragged him out of retirement. I’m an addict for his product, without them I can barely walk. He is kindly supplying me with my poison. I’d be up the proverbial creek without him.

I heard only the other day that the NHS is now giving jabs to people who are obese to reduce their weight. Obesity is now widespread and life limiting but, and it’s a big but, people do choose their consumption habits. The vast majority could help themselves by changing their habits. I didn’t choose to be born with a club foot. I don’t feel too hard done by, I’ve managed ok-ish, but the sense of injustice is palpable. Should I have collapsed in a heap and whinged about it with a woe is me act or should I have instead done what I've done and shown that an affliction doesn’t need to hold you back ? I’ve always competed able bodied, even on the track where according to my relay team I used to run like the Incredible Hulk (Lou Ferrigno did not have a smooth running style - it wasn't a compliment). However, I can’t help but feel punished by my get up and go attitude. Will I get more in Britain if I just sit down and complain as loudly as my Covid scarred lungs will allow ? The answer is probably a yes. It seems wrong on all levels….