A Biddulph mum who lost her leg to cancer is hoping to raise funds for a prosthetic to help her keep up with her three-year-old son.
Jordan Curwen, (31), said she was “devastated” when she was told in March that a painful lump at the bottom of her foot was cancerous.
After further tests, she was told by a consultant a month later that the “aggressive” cancer had spread to the rest of her foot and toes, and that there was no other option than to remove her leg from below her knee.
She said: “In such a short space of time, my world has completely changed in every aspect of life. I’ve had to re-learn how to do every day simple thing, and then it will be learning to walk again.”
Despite there being times when she felt like giving up, her son Ollie, (3), she said, had kept her going.
“Having him is the reason why I’m still here,” she said.
“I haven’t been able to give up or had the choice to throw in the towel.
“He’s taken it so well and been very understanding that I can’t move much and that he needs to help mummy do things.
“Since I’ve been back home, I’ve got a smaller wheelchair that I use in the house and use my good leg to kick myself around to get him dressed and things. But it’s hard sometimes and I just wish my leg was still there, because it would be so much easier.”
She was discharged from hospital just two days after the surgery to remove her leg in July, but was rushed back in by paramedics with suspected sepsis when a rash developed under her bandage.
She said: “I thought the pain was just a normal part of the recovery process, but it turned out to be cellulitis, which is an infection of the soft tissue under your skin.
“If it’s left untreated it can lead to sepsis – it is really dangerous.”
Miss Curwen was given antibiotics and discharged after an 11-day stay in hospital, but then developed cellulitis again when she fell out of her wheelchair in the car park during a visit to the primary care centre in Biddulph to see her GP.
Pains
As well as recovering from the surgery and infection, and weaning herself off opioid pain medications, which caused her to have “hot sweats” in the night, Miss Curwen said she was also suffering from phantom pains in her missing leg.
She said: “It’s really frustrating, because I have an itchy ankle that I can’t scratch and sometimes it feels like someone is bending back my toes; it’s a sharp pain that happens all of a sudden.
“Other times it feels like when your feet are so cold they go numb, but there’s nothing I can do about it because there’s no foot there.
A Gofundme page set up by her friend Naomi Ledgar has so far raised £6,760.
Ms Ledgar said she planned to run the Potters ‘Arf Marathon on Sunday, 29th September, to hopefully raise more funds.
Ms Ledgar said: “After completing ‘Couch to 5k’ earlier this year, this will be a big step up but it’s minimal compared to the journey that Jordy is on.”
Another friend, Amy Dunbill, plans to hold a family fun day event in support of the fund-raiser at Werrington Scout Hut on Saturday between noon and 4pm, which will include a bouncy castle, raffles, stalls, games, dancers and children’s entertainment.
Donate to Miss Curwen’s Gofundme page here.
(Photos: Jordan Curwen).
