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Man pays £64,000 to have his leg cut off

Amputee
Amputee

A 20-year-old man plagued with leg pain due to a rare condition paid £64,000 to have it amputated - after being inspired by a dog on Channel 4's The Supervet.

James Bertrand has lived with constant pain due to blood clots caused by a condition he was diagnosed with when he and his twin brother were still in the womb.

However, he was given a ray of hope by an episode of The Supervet in which a dog had a prosthetic limb fused directly into the bone of its amputated leg.

Tormented by pain - and having exhausted all the surgery options in the UK - he tracked down a doctors in Australia who would perform the same complex procedure at a cost of £64,000.

Following the surgery in May of this year James, who also had his other leg amputated as a child, is now on the road to being pain free and properly mobile for the first time in his life.

He told the Bucks Free Press: "I first heard about the surgery two years ago. We were just sat watching The Supervet on TV and a dog was having the same operation. It was actually my mum who asked the question and that's when it became a possibility. We asked my doctors in Dorset about it and they said it's already being done on humans.

"It's funny how it happened really. If I hadn't have watched the show then I would never have thought to ask about it."

Over the summer James experienced a new lease of life - he took his first steps without crutches, stood up in the shower for the first time and has gained five inches in height due to the new prosthetic limb.