Summit achievement - the surgeon's perspective

Damian McDonald was 26 years old when he was referred to me in 1995 suffering with backache and a stiff left hip. He had a left below knee amputation as a result of his accident in South Africa in 1987.

Bone graft had been taken from the left side of the pelvis in an attempt to save the left leg but this had not been successful and he had the added complication of scarring around the left hip. He used one stick and walked with a pronounced limp. He was working full time and was doing everything he could to keep fit.

Despite conservative management over the next three years his condition deteriorated and he started to develop a twisted spine as a result of his awkward gait and severe pain in his now worn out left hip joint.

At the age of twenty nine in 1998, he underwent Left Furlong HAC Total hip replacement. Damian made determined efforts in his rehabilitation and did well. I recall him using a static bike in physio and it was not long before he resumed his hobby of cycling and got back to work just six weeks after his operation. I have followed his progress by yearly review and at five years recorded that he walked with only a slightly perceptible limp. He was back to driving a 500cc motorbike.

Damian is a not infrequent visitor to the orthopaedic department. He did the splits in 1999 playing with a Frisbee, just a year after his THR but suffered no harm and then broke his left wrist scaphoid bone in 2003. I told him to use his new hip as normal and he has taken my advice and lives life to the full. His achievement in climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for charity is a testiment of his determination and the reliability of his Furlong hip.