I lost my leg in an accident. I want to walk again!

Hi, my name is Artur. I am 46 years old. Thank you for your interest in my story. Until 18 th of January my life was very intensive and I loved it. I’ve always been keen on doing a lot of things, I mean really a lot. My profession is an entrepreneur.

Before I became my own boss, I worked in many places and quickly learned how to be very skilled in all of them. I worked as a translator, cutting glass table operator, a night shift supervisor, a shop assistant, an Internet cafe owner, I even did food deliveries; in Poland, Norway and Northern Ireland. I even organised a Workers Union and became a shop steward in the factory I was working. I did several courses such as first aider, in the Employment Law, in HR areas such as disciplinary meetings, etc.

When I moved to Gibraltar I noticed that there was a very limited access to a domiciliary care, so I decided to open my own company based on my experiences and my wife’s background (she’s a nurse). I spent 6 months creating everything from the scratch, starting with designing the logo, then our Website, all the IT, programmes, setting up the server, everything! Soon, Grand Home Care became one of the biggest companies in Gibraltar. We used to work under UKHCA and UK standards.

Apart of providing an excellent care for Gibraltarians, I have decided to participate in supporting community in other ways by sponsoring events, young, talented people and charities. I always believe that professional employee requires a good training and I wanted my staff to develop their skills. Therefore, we invested in well-equipped Training Centre with our own trainers, delivering multiply courses: First Aid, Manual Handling, Infection Control, Dementia Care, Medications Administration and Conflicts Resolution. We took a part in dementia conferences in Ljubljana and Copenhagen.

Unfortunately, at the end of last year due to the reasons we couldn’t predict, we were forced to close our company, and we lost almost all our savings and incomes. Then suddenly, on 18th of January I had a serious car accident. I was fighting for my life for a week. I won the fight, but I lost my left leg above the knee. There are more injuries such as multiple fractures of my right leg, my stump, broken wrist and 5th vertebrae. I spent 6 weeks in the hospital. Even though I had excellent nursing care I have noticed that rehabilitation and post-discharge care doesn’t exist.

Luckily there were good people around us, who could give us advises on what to do. However, we found ourselves lost among laws, rights, types of entitlements. Step by step, we were able to discover how to get in touch with physio, consultants, where to get our entitlements, appointments and what kind of questions to ask. Considering my newly discovered knowledge, I decided to open a non-profit organization, supporting and guiding amputees and their relatives.

I want to start a blog and a vlog about my experiences, obstacles, difficulties and the solutions I found for the occurring problems. I will be looking into bringing amazing people into my project, as nobody can teach and understand others better, than someone who had gone through a similar path. All my life, I was trying to help others. I hope that this time, when it is me needing support, the goodness will come back to me. It always comes back.