JoN

Date of amputation: 18 July 1996
Time since amputation: 1 year
Age: 27 Male
Motor cycle accident
Foot lost in accident; amputated on arrival at hospital
No previous damage to limb

It was a motorbike accident: I don't remember anything about the actual accident at all, only what people told me afterwards. Apparently a child on a push bike came across the road at a blind bend, and as I avoided him I collided with an on-coming car. The phantom is a very bizarre, changing, random image of a blurred foot: a blurred sort of leg. Its as if the leg has gone to sleep and you can still feel your foot although you can't feel the touch: you can still feel the presence of the foot. It is actually very painful. It doesn't feel like a real foot; it feels like a numb foot, but you can feel the presence of everything. I can pull my toes up, push my toes forward, rotate my foot: all movements that a foot and ankle would be able to do. I can feel as if my toes are pushing down my boot, but I can't feel the intimate sensation of touch.

One thing that I have been able to feel with the phantom is water. When I am in the bath and my leg is under water I can feel it eddying round the toes, and a sensation of the water going through the hairs of my leg. Its quite bizarre, quite pleasant. I see the phantom as a useful thing because it gives me good foot placing with my false leg. This is the only remnant of my leg there is; despite the pain I don't want it to go. I can imagine it disappearing, and I feel a bit fearful.