Louis is only a few steps away from walking again
His daughter Melissa has also asked that if anybody has wooden crutches he can make use of, that they please come forward.
Seven months after we met Louis Peter and chatted about the loss of the lower half of his right leg, Louis is only a few steps away from being able to walk with his new prosthetic limb.
All his life, 75-year-old Louis has been a hard-working, independent individual who just about never needed any assistance from his daughter, Melissa Jansen. That all changed in March last year, however, when Louis fell from a ladder while on a job, and broke his right ankle.
Read initial article here:
https://roodepoortnorthsider.co.za/281253/bit-help-louis-walk/
Most people would think standard procedure would follow – he would go to the hospital, have the injury stapled/ stitched, placed in a cast, and in a few months his leg should have healed. That was not the case however, as within a matter of days of the operation, Louis’s foot and lower leg began to rot.
Louis ended up undergoing a total of 10 operations, of which six were amputations, as doctors fought tooth and nail to save as much of his right leg as possible. The final amputation was made about 10cm above his knee, after a process which had been excruciating for Louis who, for the majority of his six amputations, was not under anaesthetic, but simply numb to the feeling of his leg being cut.
So, in an attempt to raise funds for a prosthetic limb for Louis, Melissa reached out to the Northsider, hoping that we would be able to assist in the process. Melissa’s request seemed to pay off, as within three months of the article being published, Louis was going for his first session for the design of his prosthetic.
“The money we raised came from a raffle, a golf day, and a lot of donations from the community,” Melissa said. “Every little bit helped us out.”
Louis went for three check-ups with the doctor, and the week before Christmas 2018, he received a new prosthetic leg. Since it’s only the lower leg and Louis has no knee joint, he has had to practice walking with a walker for the last four months.
“He hasn’t gone for professional physiotherapy, he’s been doing everything himself,” Melissa said. Now, four months down the line, Louis is only a few more practices away from walking without the walker. “It’s made a huge difference in my life, I’m very grateful that I was able to receive the leg,” Louis said.
