Below knee

Mr Gainesh Govender

Mr Govender and his family came to my offices to discuss his options as a below-knee amputee. Over a year ago, Mr Govender lost his leg to gangrene caused by diabetes. He hasn’t walked since his amputation, which is always a very sad thing for us to hear.

We started his treatment with a post-op silicone liner that provides compression on a new stump. The purpose of this liner is to minimise the volume of the residual limb to prepare for the prosthesis.

A short while later, Mr Govender returned and we fitted him with his Balance S prosthetic foot. In our initial meeting, I told Mr Govender that even after his prosthetic was fitted, he would still walk with crutches for the following two weeks as his legs regained their strength. After a year of not walking, the muscles become unaccustomed to holding weight and will need a sufficient amount of time to rebuild.

Mr Govender completely astounded us by getting up and walking across the room without any crutches! We were elated that he was able to be up and on his feet so quickly – he completely defied the odds against him.

His story and all the other success stories are still the reason we absolutely love what we do. Well done, Mr Govender, we are very proud of you!