‘I thought of it
as gaining a
life rather than
losing a leg’
I
n moments of pain and
despair, often the smallest
things can hold the biggest
significance. For Hope
Gordon, emerging from
elective leg amputation
surgery on Aug 2, 2016, it was the
simple pleasure of being able to
snugly wrap herself up under a
blanket in bed without being in
excruciating agony.
“I woke up and my whole body
was beneath it. That hadn’t
happened for nearly 10 years,” she
says, adding: “I always remember
the nurse put my notes down on
my bed and it was where my left
leg was. I laid there laughing.”
Gordon, then 21 and a national-
level swimmer, had already
displayed remarkable bravery to
make it to the operating table,
notably coming to terms with a
diagnosis of Complex Regional
Pain Syndrome (CRPS) before
having to crowdfund £10,000 after
the NHS refused to pay for surgery
with no guarantee it would work in
curing her symptoms.
Yet her reaction towards the
nurse that day was not bravado,simply relief. “I never thought of
having my leg amputated as losing
my leg, I thought of it as gaining a
life,” she states. “By that point, I
couldn’t remember what it was like
to not live in chronic pain. If
anything touched my leg, I’d be
bed-bound for days.”
Gordon is talking at the National
Water Sports Centre in
Nottingham, the main base for
British Canoeing. It is almost three
years on from surgery and she is
preparing for the Canoe Sprint
World Championships which get
under way in Hungary next week.
She will compete over
200 metres in the women’s KL3
classification for athletes with
trunk and partial leg function, with
the aim to finish inside the top six
to qualify a British quota place for
next year’s Paralympics.
Gordon had originally swum as
an amputee, but her sporting
ambitions reached a whole new
level after discovering her
potential in canoeing following a
talent identification advert.
“I’m really excited, I didn’t really
expect to be racing at the WorldChampionships in my first full
season,” she says.
Growing up in the Scottish
Highlands, Gordon had always
been an active child, with an
occasional sore left knee attributed
to growing pains. Then, in 2008,
aged 12, her leg “basically just
stopped working one day”.
After a year of medical trips,
various treatments and general
scratching of heads, she was
diagnosed with CRPS, a chronic
condition that causes long-lasting
and debilitating pain.
“It was weird because I was
happy I had been diagnosed. I had
spent a year where nobody knew
what was wrong,” she says.
With a steely resolve to tackle
things head on, she tried varying
treatments, including nerve
blockers. Unfortunately, they made
things worse, with Gordon
eventually needing a wheelchair to
help move around. There were
endless hospital stays, up to 50
tablets a day and just two hours’
sleep a night as her quality of life
slipped away.
Aged 14, she began tocontemplating amputation, but she
knew it was against guidelines and
it took another two years before
she would convey her thoughts to
family and doctors.
There was resistance from the
medical profession, with Gordon
struggling to find a doctor who
would sanction surgery on ethical
grounds.
“I never got my leg amputated to
get rid of the pain, I got it
amputated to have a better quality
of life,” she says.
Eventually, Gordon succeeded
in finding a doctor but, with the
NHS unwilling to fund the
procedure, she had to resort to her
own measures.
“The thing I was most worried
about with crowdfunding was I
didn’t want people to think I
wanted to get my leg amputated as
being a negative thing or me giving
up,” says Gordon, who helps
support the Finding Your Feet
Amputee Charity.
Even with funds, Gordon still
faced hurdles, with surgery
cancelled seven times before she
eventually went under the knife.A total of 1,917 days passed between
first asking for an amputation to it
taking place.
Speaking now, she says she is
proud of her “robot leg” prosthetic
and chooses not to have a cosmetic
cover. The only medication she
takes is for asthma and, so far, she
has experienced no further CRPS
symptoms: “If it comes back, it
comes back. I’m not going to live
my life waiting for something that
might never happen,” she says.
One thing that has remained
throughout is her love for sport.
Amid the pain, she continued to
swim competitively, both pre- and
post-operation, and realises now it
was her way of coping.
“I was still in agony, but I could
kind of leave it there,” she says.
“The training and structure helped
me psychologically, too.
“I think of my life in sport in
chapters. Beforehand, I was an
active kid doing sport because I
enjoyed it. Then, when my leg got
bad, I swam because it helped me.
“Now I still do sport because I
enjoy it, but I want to do it because
of performance.”Scottish canoeist Hope Gordon tells Pippa Field how she
has turned a huge corner after having amputation surgery
Love match was a real ace
Doubles partners on the court, soul
mates off it, Alison van Uytvanck
had never faced fellow Belgian
Greet Minnen across the net on
tour – until a WTA tournament in
Karlsruhe, Germany.
Van Uytvanck and Minnen are
two of the few openly gay playerson the tour and it is fair to say there
was more to the match than a place
in the second round. And, after Van
Uytvanck’s 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 victory,
there was no love lost as the pair
embraced at the net and kissed.
The couple suffered a second-
round defeat in the Wimbledon
doubles last month, with world
No 63 Van Uytvanck encouraging
more players to come out.Brilliant Biles reaches new
heights – againThe incredible force of Simone
Biles shows no sign of letting up. At
the United States Championships
last week, the 22-year-old became
the first gymnast to land a triple-
twisting, double somersault during
the floor exercise event to leaveher rivals and spectators in
awe. A description cannot
do her justice. You simply
have to watch the video.Homesick? No chance
for ‘Smiling Cinderella’
In her first competition
outside Japan, HinakoShibuno won the British Open
in Woburn. Nicknamed the
“Smiling Cinderella”
Shibuno (left) charmed the
galleries with her charisma
and won the title with an
18-under-par score.
If the 20-year-old was a
relative unknown outside
Asia, she certainly grew her
fan-base on these shores.WHAT WE LOVED THIS MONTH
Making waves:
Hope Gordon will
be performing
in the Canoe
Sprint World
Championships
in Hungary
next weekDAVID ROSE FOR THE TELEGRAPHnder the knife. of performance.”
tators in
cannot
simply
video.hance
erella’
ition
akoShibuno won th
in Woburn. Ni
“Smiling Cind
Shibuno (left)
galleries withh
and won the title
1 8-under-par sco
If the 20-year-o
relative unknow
Asia, she certain
fan-base on these8 ***^ Friday 16 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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