INTRODUCING MATTY ROCHE.
of two weeks that hadn't been done previously. They explained to me that the rest of the leg had been starved of arterial blood supply and all of the main blood vessels had begun to disintegrate and cease to exist. They said I had two options, one was to Incorporating fitness into your daily life can be a chore for some people. lose my leg or because I had a highly With this, training to see significant gains and changes to your body can active lifestyle they could try and do be a long and hard journey that often takes people months of bypass surgery - which would entail dedication before seeing changes. Matthew Roche trains up to five days taking the vein from my thigh and a week usually, and does so with a prosthetic leg. We learn more about inserting it as a new artery down near Matthews story in a personal interview. my ankle. Obviously I opted for that, as it meant I could keep my leg.
By Nathalie K elly
When and how did you lose your leg? I lost my leg on July 15 2008. This was the culmination of a long series of events, which began with symptoms in my late teens and early twenties. Any time I tried to do exercise my foot would become painful and I'd get cramps and shooting pains going half-way up my shin. I had this investigated, but the doctors failed to diagnose the problem. Over the years, continuous exercise made these symptoms worse until I had to start giving up various jobs, such as my job as a dancer and a nurse due to the fact it was too
painful. As it turns out, what was happening was that the calf muscles in my leg were overdeveloped from birth and there was an abnormal insertion in one of my muscles leading to the entrapment of the popliteal artery, which runs behind the knee. Over a five-year period, this repeated crushing sensation of the artery eventually led to it weakening and narrowing until it subsequently collapsed. I had to fly back from a holiday in Thailand, having danced on a collapsed artery for about a week, hoping it would just get better. I went back home, had multiple different tests on my leg in the space
The first operation was initially a success, but then there were post-op complications. This led to a haematoma (a solid swelling of clotted blood within the tissues) leading to rapid blood loss from the incision point from ankle to knee, and knee to groin. I was lucky not to die when I was in theatre, as they found and fixed the blood clot that was causing the blood loss. After this, I suffered further complications which led to the muscle on the lateral compartment of my leg increasing massively in volume. This caused an increase in pressure on the fascia, which then
leads to all the cells crushing it to death. If this doesn't get dealt with within hours, it dies. Unfortunately, that's what happened as the nurses didn't believe I was in pain due to the fact I was on the highest dose of painkillers. After three days the tissues had turned yellow and died, along with the nerve cells being crushed. I then had emergency surgery, but most of the action was taken too late so a lot of the muscle had to be removed and I was left with a permanent nerve injury from about a quarter of the way down my shin to my foot. So I couldn't feel my foot or walk on it. It was cosmetically disfigured due to all the muscle loss and it was functionally useless. To add to everything, I then picked up an infection from the hospital in the wound, turning the majority of the muscle that remained into jelly. After seeing what had happened, my options were to keep the leg and wait for some type of cure or stem cell therapy, but I wouldn't be able to move on from
where I was at that point, it'd keep me in a sick role. I didn't want to see myself as less of the person I'm capable of being, I believed that if I waited longer for a cure and still had to have my leg amputated - the rehabilitation process would take a lot longer. The older you get, the harder it is to recover and I just wanted to get back to being the person I was, a dancer and a traveler. I knew there had been a lot of development in prosthetics at the time, as people had been coming back from wars having lost their limbs and were making great recovery's with prosthetics. I wanted to cut my losses, use it as a positive force to see what I could overcome and push myself further than ever before. What was the rehabilitation and recovery process? How long did it take to get used to the prosthetic? I was in a wheelchair for some time after loosing my leg. I was 25 years old and
I had a lot of my independent functions taken away from me, I couldn't go out on my own. The first time my mum took me round the park I broke down in tears of gratitude as I'd taken so much for granted and was lucky to be alive. This altered my state of mind and perception, something that's never left me as my rehabilitation process really began because I was looking at the opportunities I had. Each day I became a lot more reflective, I constructively used my time, I began to do a lot of meditation and became very introspective. As my recovery process went on, I began to build a lot of upper body strength through being on crutches and pushing myself about in the wheelchair. Thats what kick started a lot of my physical rehabilitation as I couldn?t actually have a prosthetic limb for about six months due to the open wound. But I didn?t want to be held back so I pushed myself on the crutches to
the point where my left leg would be in agony and my wrists would be hurting. I just saw this pain as a barrier that could become a challenge to prove I could be a stronger individual. By the time it actually came to having a prosthetic leg it wasn?t actually a case of having to relearn how to walk as the brain doesn?t forget how the body works. I was still getting a lot of phantom symptoms - when my heel touched the ground it still felt as if it were my own, even though it was just a piece of card with hybrid on a shoe. What really helped me in being able to walk again without aid was simply the pain of being able to weigh-bear. Once the pain was over and my leg became used to the press points, walking became quite an easy thing to do. I knew that having risen above all these challenges, psychologically and physically, I had a lot of potential for rapid physical adaptations - which is what got me interested in training properly.
How long have you been training for and is this what inspired you to start training? I?d say prior to losing my limp I went to the gym just to maintain a level of fitness, but I never really saw myself as someone who could build or increase my strength. There?s three things that inspired me to begin my fitness journey, one was that what had happened to me had affected my sense of body image. A lot of people began to define me as the ?guy with one leg?. I wanted there to be more to me than just having one leg, I thought that if I started training and made other parts of my body more capable, it?d make up for what my right leg can?t do. Another reason was from the time I had on crutches, my shoulders and my upper body filled out a lot quicker than I anticipated. The final reason that really made me want to train more regularly was that roughly a year after losing my leg I saw there was a marathon in Nottingham which was 27.2k. I had never ran such a distance in my life, on two legs let alone one! I was still having problems with settling into a new prosthetic and not having much nerve stability; nonetheless I told my physician and everyone involved in my recovery that I wanted to do this marathon on crutches, and asked what they thought. Of course everyone told me I shouldn?t or couldn?t?
and being stubborn I decided to show them all that I could, I would and I?d do it much faster than some people with two legs. I had to train really hard for it, so in the months that led up to this event I started doing a lot of swimming, cross training and cardiovascular. After I?d done this event, as exhausting and exhilarating as it was, with what I?d achieved in such little time; I caught the fitness bug. It boosted my confidence and determination towards training.
" These endeavor s aren?t about the destination, it?s about doing your best and your j our ney towar ds it. " However I only started taking it really seriously and allowing fitness to take over my weekend habits during the 2012 London Olympics. My mum and dad got my tickets to watch the Paralympics, during this my mum was sending me loads of messages saying how amazing and inspiring it was. It made me think, if that?s the effect people can have on someone else, what if I did it for the purpose of inspiring others? So this pushed me to start training to aim towards a Paralympic level, I decided to take up rowing as it was something i?d never tried before and it?d be a challenge. If I could do this, it would demonstrate to people that have a
disability that anyone is capable of anything as long as they?re willing to make certain sacrifices and put their mind to it. But also, given my previous lifestyle it made me think it could also inspire other people, that it?s not too late for anyone to grab life by the horns. These opportunities can be on your doorstep and it?s a matter of trying to give it a go, regardless of how daunting it may seem. Within a couple of months of training to go for the rowing Paralympics, a coach headhunted me. I was attending trails for the GB team and within three months I was at a high standard, but unfortunately I had a bike accident. I was involved in a collision with a car which caused me to go over my handlebars and smash my good knee to smithereens, meaning I had to recover again and get myself back to a high standard of fitness. As I began training again I then was involved in another bike accident which damaged my knee again, so as much as the Rio Paralympics aren?t going to happen, my attitude is now to keep going and try for the Tokyo Paralympics. Even if that doesn?t happen and i?m not selected for a national team, you win because you?re always stronger than yesterday. I know I?ll come out with a lot more power to inspire others and I think it?s why these endeavors aren?t about the destination, it?s about doing your best and your journey towards it.
Obviously nothing has held you back, but would you say that your general health and self-care has improved since losing your leg? There?s a lot of ways a prosthetic limb can hold you back. I?m not as fast, theres certain things I?ve had to sacrifice doing, certain ports and activities I used to enjoy. It?s only when life throws you a curveball and throws you off balance that you?ll dace the challenges. You?ll either have to rise to overcome them or be smothered by the challenges, so the ways that held me back are also the ways that have enabled me. It?s given me a more optimistic outlook on life, a lot more fight and I seek out challenges as opposed to waiting for them to find me. So to summarise, I think i?ve lost some flesh, blood and bone but what I?ve gained in spirit and perspective couldn?t be matched at all, and for that I?m immensely grateful.