John

Koalaa's resident craftsman and sepsis survivor

John's story

Not too long ago, John was a healthy and fit individual working for Royal Mail. But one Christmas, his life was to change forever.  

John had been feeling slightly unwell but managed to push through it and keep working up until Christmas eve. By that evening he had updated his Facebook status to ‘I feel like I’m dying of man flu’ and he knew it was no ordinary cold.

When his wife returned from getting Christmas supplies, she found John doubled over in pain and immediately called for an ambulance. Upon reaching the hospital, John was diagnosed with a life-threatening reaction to an infection called sepsis. After a month of recovery and care, his doctor delivered the news that for him to live, they would need to amputate one hand partially, one hand from just below his wrist and both his legs completely.

John's experience with Koalaa prosthetics

Since his amputation and feeling lucky to be alive, John has had a very positive and inspirational outlook on life. He has focused on finding innovative tools and prosthetic options, within the NHS and elsewhere, that might assist him in his daily routines.  John was keen to find tools that would allow him to reintegrate with society and continue doing all the activities he previously enjoyed. And with Koalaa, he found an answer! ​ John describes his experience with Koalaa prosthetics as being ‘fantastic.’ His most proud achievement to date is that he has used his prosthetic to build a birdhouse, a process that involved a lot of different skills, including sawing!  

It’s been our pleasure meeting John and his feedback on the design of our prosthetics has been invaluable, helping us to improve the comfort and feel of the arm socket. 

John has found a new sense of joy, with his Koalaa sleeve enabling him to continue doing the things he loves, as well as trying things he’s never done before.

In John’s words, ‘the process has been amazing – the things I’ve been able to do, from cooking to building a birdhouse – a variety of things, it’s given me the ability to do things I really enjoyed doing again.’