I was born with Talipes (club foot) which is quit a general
term for deformities of the foot and ankle. Mine was not a deformity of the
foot but of the position of the foot as it was facing the wrong way. The foot
was slowly over time pulled back round with bandages and I walked at a normal
age.
When I started school I struggled to learn and had a bit of
a stutter and can vaguely remember going to speech therapy for a while which
must have helped as I can’t remember it being a problem for long. I did love
sport though, I took part in everything I could, I was good at most sports but
didn’t overly excel in anything but just really enjoyed doing something that
came more natural than studying and took
up Roller Dance Skating outside school at a young age. I took up couples skating and myself and my
partner won the youth British Championships, made the British team and Competed
in Germany. I gave up skating at about the same time as finishing school, I had
just moved on and had no enjoyment in training anymore.
When I was in my 20s I took up kickboxing, gaining my black belt
after 2 years of training and then changed clubs. I joined Invicta Kickboxing
which is a very good, established club and I decided I wanted to re-take my
black belt as I felt the standard was better at this club. I passed my black
belt again and stayed with Invicta and Coached for them in my home town of
Ashford for many years.
When I gave up Kickboxing to be honest I felt that the risk
of injury for the rewards I was getting was not enough, I was training hard
quit often sparing people allot heavier and didn’t want to end up badly
injured. Invicta Kickboxing is a brilliant club though with some brilliant
fighters and the head coach Ray Askew is just the nicest bloke and best coach I
could have wished for. Even after so long I still keep an eye on the Invicta
Kickboxing web site to see what’s going on.
Pieces Written while undergoing
treatment
On the 9th
February 2003 While in France I broke my right leg in a snowboarding accident,
it was a spiral fracture, it had broken both the right Fibula and Tibia but at
the time didn’t seem to serious as fare as broken legs go.
I was
originally treated in France
I had a
frame of some sort on for three and a half years, I started with an Ilizarov
frame and then had two Taylor Spatial frames.
KEEPING
BUSY
I had
been back from France for a week and decided that as I had all this time on my
hands and didn’t want to watch TV all the time plus didn’t want to get out of
shape to get out in the beautiful weather we was having at the time and do some
weight training. I had a bench in the garden and a couple of dumbbells, I used
to put my leg up and just do what ever I could, I would just work round the
injury and just do things at my own pace there was no hurry. I also had a go at
swimming in the first year but it was the one sport I could never really get
the hang of even before the accident as I had done everything from pairs
skating to kickboxing. It was only while in the Taylor
I was
originally a bricklayer and at the time of the accident had a good job working
for a small retail maintenance firm, we went all over the country doing general
maintenance and small building works. I spent allot of the time on motorways
and working away but really liked the work as it was very varied and I got to
meet lots of different people all over the place. It was about 6 months after
the accident when things weren’t going to plan when I started to think about
what else I might be able to train as just in case my leg didn’t heal. I still
wasn’t to worried at this stage but thought I would use the time to go to some
of the adult ed free classes they where advertising at the time as I had done
terrible at school and I have trouble learning. I first did the maths and
English courses for the first year, then after that did some of the courses
that weren’t free, ECDL computer course, and various bookkeeping and accounting
courses.
While in
my second frame and doing an NVQ accounting course I won a Career Development
award but was not able to go to the ceremony and pick it up myself because I
was in hospital having an operation. They said it was a very nice do though as
some of the girls went on my behalf and by the sounds of it drank my share of
win as well, which I thought was nice of them.
STARTING
SOMETHING NEW
My final
frame came off in February 2009 after six years plus of treatment, if it wasn’t
for the encouragement and care I received at Kings College
Hospital
I am
doing a sponsored triathlon in Lydd ,
Kent
The distance will be
1500 Meters lake swim
40 Kilometres bike ride
10 Kilometres run
Any
sponsorship no matter how much would be hugely appreciated by me and I am sure
by the trust!!! I have a just give page http://www.justgiving.com/Adrian-Heathfield/
there is a small write up and some photos on there so take a look.
I am also
back to work full time, I didn’t go back to the bricklaying and after the last
couple of years at college I didn’t decided to go into bookkeeping either. I
saw a job advertised in the local paper advertising a job as a trainee printer
and liked the sound of it, they took me on and I have been there for about 8
weeks now and really enjoy it.
I would
also like to say a big thanks to Marjorie and Mark my Mum, Dad and brother, Phil ip who have always been there for me through
some quit tough times.
Update
August 2009
Due to an
accident on the 13 August my leg has refractured, I was on the way to a
hospital appointment on my bike when the chain came off. I don't know if the
leg broke before I came off as I felt my foot catch on something or whether it
broke when I hit the ground. It was a bit of a mess this time being quit a big
compound fracture.
I had an
operation in Ashford at the William
Harvey Hospital Worthing ,
bugger.
The most
important thing though is that I am still here as it could have been so much
worse as I was crossing a road from one path to another and was very lucky
there were no cars coming.
I had
only been back at work full time for 8 weeks so have lost that job as was on a
3 month trial. I will say that they have been very good and have paid me full
pay right up to the end of September which they are under no obligation to,
which gives me breathing space and time to fill out all those lovely forms.
I have
started back swimming and while it is hard, slow work even after so many years
of swimming with the frames on I still get a great sense of achievement from
every little goal I achieve. I think for me atleast that this is the key to
make small goals that you can achieve on a weekly basis and the long term goals
will follow as a result of them smaller achievements.
I am back
to doing my physio sessions 2 to 3 times a day and think they are the key to
success while in the frames if you want to go back to an active life after the
frames. I completed 2 triathlons, did lots of long runs some cross-country over
the South Downs and did some distance rides on
the bike in training and think this is due to keeping active while in the
frames. I don’t know if the leg was still a little weak or if it was just bad
luck as I can’t say when the leg broke as it all happened so fast, it could
have gone when it caught the back wheel or when I hit the deck.
“Don’t
wish for an easy life, wish to be a stronger person”
Last
Stand
This was
my first event in over two years and the first time I have done a stand alone
swim event. I was planning on doing last year’s regatta but after problems with
my leg could only watch what was a very rough swim with brutal waves!
This year
though we had scorching temperatures, no wind and very calm sea. I had gone
along in the morning to support at Canterbury Tri first then Pod 3 lakes and
was feeling very confident if a little tired. Lee and Chris had come along to
do the regatta as well which was really good to know I wouldn’t be the only one
in a wet suit as they had a smaller entry this year. They had offered to slow
down and swim with me but I told Lee I would rather they go for it as they
would probably sink trying to swim as slow as me. I’m slow but I always get
where I’m going, eventually!
I was
doing the event for the Kings College Limb Reconstruction Charity and was
starting to feel the nerves a little as the trustees where there taking loads
of photos. I also had to patch up one of the protective rubber caps on my frame
that had come off and gotten lost.
We all
went to get ready then had the safety talk which was very thorough and also got
told about the rout to follow round the buoys. Lining up at the beach edge the
nerves subsided a bit and I just wanted to get in there and with a little help
from Lee made my way in. We all swam over to the wall where the start was and
waited till everyone was touching the wall then the horn sounded. Everyone went
off like a rocket, I waited a second worrying about kicking someone with the
frame but had no need to as they had gone off so fast there was no one near me.
I followed suit but went off to hard and even on the very calm day found that
my sighting was really off and found myself zig zagging allot. The swim to the
first buoy seemed to be endless and didn’t seem to be getting any closer but
was pleased to hear allot of people say the same after the race. The second
buoy was only about 100 meters away and then it was just a case of heading back
across the harbour to the start which seemed like a breeze, I still zig zagged
a bit but felt strong! It also helped that I had caught up to someone after the
initial start swimming the first 750 without seeing any swimmers as they were
so far ahead. After Lee had finished he swam back to me and swam with me till I
reached the finish and helped me out so big thanks to him and the big cheer I
got at the end from family and supporters always helps!
Times:
Chris
Hallam 27.59
Lee
Gladwell in 28.17
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