Henry Morris

I know that you are scared for the future and how much physical and mental pain you are in, and being completely honest there will always be some. But pain of any sort is only temporary. The pain from your injuries will fade, and what pain you are left with, you will learn to live with. The confusion and the worry will go as you process what has happened and learn to talk about it. Please talk about it.

At first, missing a leg will be scary and you will worry about how you look and how you will do things you once took for granted day to day. But once you have a prosthetic, have got yourself physically fit and up and about, you will look bad ass, and everyone will respect and admire the fact you have got up and are doing what you are doing.

Day to day it will be hard, it will be hard for you to find the motivation to get out of bed. But you will, and that’s the hardest part. Do your exercises, get strong and get moving. Washing, making a cup of tea, getting to the sofa, it’s all going to be difficult at first, but you will find ways to adapt and easier ways of doing things. These small hurdles are what will build you up to take on bigger and better challenges.

Going out in a wheelchair is scary at first and you probably won’t quite get used to it or like it for that matter, but don’t worry about the looks and the stares. It’s just people’s curiosity and in a sense ignorance of something different.

You will learn that getting fit and strong makes dealing with a missing limb and prosthetic use so much easier. You WILL get fit, and you WILL do more things than you ever thought possible. New sports, new hobbies, new friends and new adventures all over the world. You will get back on a motorbike and mountain bikes again.

This journey will teach you that you should say yes to everything, and that will bring opportunities that you had never even thought about your way. You will learn that you can do everything you want to and more if you keep that determination and find ways to physically adapt to do these things. You just have to take each thing one step at a time and things just fall into place.

I know life looks pretty bleak after the accident, but I promise, your life going forward will be so much better than it was before as long as you keep the positivity and that motivation. The things you will achieve in such a short space of time will blow your mind and you will look back at the pain, the stress, the fear, and be so proud of yourself.

You will lose friends; some people cannot deal with change or something uncomfortable. This is all on them, and they are not people that you want in your life any way. But the people you will meet along this journey, and there will be many, will impress you, motivate you, and build you up more than any of these people that you lost contact with from your previous life.

Talk to as many people that have been through trauma, disability, hardship as you can. All these stories, even if completely unrelated to your injuries will have something that you can take on board and learn from. You will speak to other amputees and be able to find new ways of doing things you are struggling with, but only if you engage and tell people what you are finding hard.

Your previous life goals are still obtainable, but just in a different way. The 9 to 5 career you had and lost doesn’t matter, you will learn that that’s not how you want to enjoy your life and that’s not what’s important. Enjoying and making the most out of what you have, and the opportunities that come your way is what matters now.

Embrace that fear and learn from it. Take on the challenge of something new and learn from it. Keep moving as much as possible and learn how your body now wants to work. Go over and speak to that person in a wheelchair and see how they are, you’ll learn from it. Cry about that pain, you’ll learn from it.

From Henry