Submitted by Steven Fries
Steven L. Fries, CPO
Description
Collection
Title:
Submitted by Steven Fries
Creator:
Steven L. Fries, CPO
Text:
I told doc 'cut my leg off'
Proud ... Jim is once again a tough Marine
CAPTAIN Courage Jim Bonney looked his doctor straight in the eye and ordered
him: “Please cut my leg off.” Super-tough Royal Marine Jim decided to gamble
on the amputation after smashing his ankle when he fell down a mountain.
And he even threw a party for his Commando comrades a week before the
operation to celebrate all the “leg-less times” they had shared together.
At first, orthopaedic surgeon Mr Patrick Loxdale refused to perform the op
and urged Jim to try an ankle fusion.
This would have involved putting pins in the joint but would have left him
with no movement in his foot and finished his Commando career.
So Jim, 26, who has now battled back to full fitness to become Britain’s
first one-legged operational Marine, kept pleading for a BKA — below the knee
amputation.
He recalled: “My surgeon wanted me to have the fusion and to see if it would
work. He saw a BKA as a last resort.
“But I was convinced the fusion would not give me the result I wanted. I
argued that I didn’t want to waste another 18 months of my life — and he agreed
to the operation.”
The op was booked for December 9, 2002, at Derriford NHS Hospital in
Plymouth.
Surgery ... in hospital after op he asked for
Jim, who was injured when he and a comrade plunged 1,000ft down icy Mount
Hunter in Alaska, went on: “I was electing to have my own foot cut off to make my
life better — not really the kind of decision you make on the flip of a coin.”
In a show of bravado, Jim decided to bid farewell to his right foot in style
at the Royal Navy’s Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon.
He said: “I held a ‘wake’ for my foot. We had a bit of a booze-up, I threw
my crutches away and I presented the Officers’ Mess with one of my boots, with
an issue sock and a bone sticking out of the top.
“Mounted on it was a plaque engraved with the words ‘For all the leg-less
times’.
From that point onwards, psychologically, I detached myself from my foot.
“A week later, following a rapid and successful operation, I joined the
amputee population of the UK raring to get on with the rebuild of my life.”
Jim threw himself into rehab and rapidly learned to walk again unaided by
crutches.
Back to full fitness ... Captain Jim
goes for a run with his false right leg
The carbon-fibre leg was manufactured by Icelandic company Ossur and its
components assembled by staff at the Exeter Mobility Centre, who provided Jim with
expert advice.
The leg comes in two sections with a socket and suspension system, including
a shock-absorbing module, which is based on similar technology to a mountain
bike fork.
Five weeks after the op he began full-time rehabilitation at Lympstone in a
specialist unit called Hunter Company.
He learned to walk with his artificial limb and eventually progressed to
running.
Jim said: “I would spend hours balancing on ‘wobble boards’ and other
devices that make you work hard to stand up by being unstable platforms.
“Much of this was to help retrain my mind to learn where the new foot was in
relation to my leg and body.”
His rehab was combined with courses at the military rehab centre at Headley
Court near Epsom. Jim said: “I wasn’t treated as an amputee, but as a soldier
with a lower limb injury.
“I saw huge improvements in my ability to balance, walk and run and began to
re-evaluate whether I WOULD in fact have to leave the Marines.
“I was rock climbing, back on my mountain bike — doing the things that I had
feared I would never do again.”
Jim went before a board where he was medically downgraded instead of being
discharged altogether.
Rehab ... Jim exercises with instructor
The senior Navy doctor told him his dream of returning to being an
operational Marine was unrealistic — but granted him a two-year window to prove his “
physical robustness”.
Determined Jim said: “I steadily increased my rehab with the remedial
instructors. Once I could run a mile I increased it until I was cracking six-mile
runs.
“I began running in boots and had to start all over again because they added
so much weight. I broke limbs as fast as they were mended and tested the
patience of my prosthetist.
“As the year progressed I began to tick off the list of criterion a Marine
must pass.
“These included an underwater helicopter escape simulator and a battle swim
in clothes with a webbing belt and rifle.”
When Jim went back before the board he was upgraded - and is now preparing to
take charge of a fast boat in a Commando raiding squadron.
Yesterday he showed his skills on the assault course in full glare of the
world’s media, after his inspirational story was revealed in The Sun.
And he revealed he has taken a gentle ribbing since we publicised his
bravery, with Messmates marking his cap hook and cutlery “Captain Courage”.
Jim said: “It’s what we do in the Marines — it’s like being part of a
family and we’ve all got a similar sense of humour.”
Lympstone’s CO Lieut Colonel Nick Arding said: “Jim is a terrific example.
He is fearless.”
The Centre’s Principal Medical Officer, Surgeon Commander Andrew Hughes,
said: “We don’t give up on people.
“If we break them we fix them and we take great pride in Captain Bonney’s
return to full operational fitness.”
Marines supremo Major General Jim Dutton, CBE, who led 3 Commando Brigade in
Gulf War Two, said: “What has been achieved is testament to Captain Bonney’s
strength of character, the excellence of the Royal Marines’ rehabilitation
system and our family ethos.”
Major General Ken Perkins, The Sun’s military adviser, added: “Never during
my 40 years as a soldier did I come across such an inspiring example of
personal courage.”
Proud ... Jim is once again a tough Marine
CAPTAIN Courage Jim Bonney looked his doctor straight in the eye and ordered
him: “Please cut my leg off.” Super-tough Royal Marine Jim decided to gamble
on the amputation after smashing his ankle when he fell down a mountain.
And he even threw a party for his Commando comrades a week before the
operation to celebrate all the “leg-less times” they had shared together.
At first, orthopaedic surgeon Mr Patrick Loxdale refused to perform the op
and urged Jim to try an ankle fusion.
This would have involved putting pins in the joint but would have left him
with no movement in his foot and finished his Commando career.
So Jim, 26, who has now battled back to full fitness to become Britain’s
first one-legged operational Marine, kept pleading for a BKA — below the knee
amputation.
He recalled: “My surgeon wanted me to have the fusion and to see if it would
work. He saw a BKA as a last resort.
“But I was convinced the fusion would not give me the result I wanted. I
argued that I didn’t want to waste another 18 months of my life — and he agreed
to the operation.”
The op was booked for December 9, 2002, at Derriford NHS Hospital in
Plymouth.
Surgery ... in hospital after op he asked for
Jim, who was injured when he and a comrade plunged 1,000ft down icy Mount
Hunter in Alaska, went on: “I was electing to have my own foot cut off to make my
life better — not really the kind of decision you make on the flip of a coin.”
In a show of bravado, Jim decided to bid farewell to his right foot in style
at the Royal Navy’s Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon.
He said: “I held a ‘wake’ for my foot. We had a bit of a booze-up, I threw
my crutches away and I presented the Officers’ Mess with one of my boots, with
an issue sock and a bone sticking out of the top.
“Mounted on it was a plaque engraved with the words ‘For all the leg-less
times’.
From that point onwards, psychologically, I detached myself from my foot.
“A week later, following a rapid and successful operation, I joined the
amputee population of the UK raring to get on with the rebuild of my life.”
Jim threw himself into rehab and rapidly learned to walk again unaided by
crutches.
Back to full fitness ... Captain Jim
goes for a run with his false right leg
The carbon-fibre leg was manufactured by Icelandic company Ossur and its
components assembled by staff at the Exeter Mobility Centre, who provided Jim with
expert advice.
The leg comes in two sections with a socket and suspension system, including
a shock-absorbing module, which is based on similar technology to a mountain
bike fork.
Five weeks after the op he began full-time rehabilitation at Lympstone in a
specialist unit called Hunter Company.
He learned to walk with his artificial limb and eventually progressed to
running.
Jim said: “I would spend hours balancing on ‘wobble boards’ and other
devices that make you work hard to stand up by being unstable platforms.
“Much of this was to help retrain my mind to learn where the new foot was in
relation to my leg and body.”
His rehab was combined with courses at the military rehab centre at Headley
Court near Epsom. Jim said: “I wasn’t treated as an amputee, but as a soldier
with a lower limb injury.
“I saw huge improvements in my ability to balance, walk and run and began to
re-evaluate whether I WOULD in fact have to leave the Marines.
“I was rock climbing, back on my mountain bike — doing the things that I had
feared I would never do again.”
Jim went before a board where he was medically downgraded instead of being
discharged altogether.
Rehab ... Jim exercises with instructor
The senior Navy doctor told him his dream of returning to being an
operational Marine was unrealistic — but granted him a two-year window to prove his “
physical robustness”.
Determined Jim said: “I steadily increased my rehab with the remedial
instructors. Once I could run a mile I increased it until I was cracking six-mile
runs.
“I began running in boots and had to start all over again because they added
so much weight. I broke limbs as fast as they were mended and tested the
patience of my prosthetist.
“As the year progressed I began to tick off the list of criterion a Marine
must pass.
“These included an underwater helicopter escape simulator and a battle swim
in clothes with a webbing belt and rifle.”
When Jim went back before the board he was upgraded - and is now preparing to
take charge of a fast boat in a Commando raiding squadron.
Yesterday he showed his skills on the assault course in full glare of the
world’s media, after his inspirational story was revealed in The Sun.
And he revealed he has taken a gentle ribbing since we publicised his
bravery, with Messmates marking his cap hook and cutlery “Captain Courage”.
Jim said: “It’s what we do in the Marines — it’s like being part of a
family and we’ve all got a similar sense of humour.”
Lympstone’s CO Lieut Colonel Nick Arding said: “Jim is a terrific example.
He is fearless.”
The Centre’s Principal Medical Officer, Surgeon Commander Andrew Hughes,
said: “We don’t give up on people.
“If we break them we fix them and we take great pride in Captain Bonney’s
return to full operational fitness.”
Marines supremo Major General Jim Dutton, CBE, who led 3 Commando Brigade in
Gulf War Two, said: “What has been achieved is testament to Captain Bonney’s
strength of character, the excellence of the Royal Marines’ rehabilitation
system and our family ethos.”
Major General Ken Perkins, The Sun’s military adviser, added: “Never during
my 40 years as a soldier did I come across such an inspiring example of
personal courage.”
Citation
Steven L. Fries, CPO, “Submitted by Steven Fries,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 6, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/223130.
