Anna Griffin - Walking Tall

Anna’s walking tall on her medical rounds with Ottobock C-Leg

A medical student who lost her leg to cancer as a teenager has praised the Ottobock C-Leg for helping her lead the life she wants.

Anna Griffin, 23, of Longridge near Preston, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma aged 11, had her leg amputated above the knee aged 13.

After learning to walk again with a mechanical “free knee”, she got her first C-Leg around seven years ago thanks to a grant from the Skeletal Cancer Action Trust (SCAT) and with it was able to do so much more thanks to its intuitive technology, which creates a more stable and efficient gait and contains safety features to prevent falls and stumbles.

With it she was able to do everything she wanted and was even able to go travelling in the Far East for two months, visiting Vietnam, Borneo, Malaysia and Bali.

A patient at specialist prosthetic clinic Dorset Orthopaedic since her first C-Leg, she’s recently upgraded to the C-Leg 4, which she loves.

“It gives me confidence. The socket is so comfortable and the leg is so intuitive that I often forget I have a prosthetic leg at all. I do everything I want to do, I’m not limited. I go out with my friends, go travelling and go to the gym,” she said. “I also have a cosmetic cover because I prefer the way it looks, it’s really realistic and I can wear skirts and dresses. I also have a foot which I can adjust to wear small heeled shoes so that opens up a lot more fashion options for me, which is exciting.”

About to go into her fifth year of medical studies, having taken a year out to complete a Masters in medical law, Anna says the C-Leg has a feature which helps her with her ambitions to become a doctor.

She said: “Because it allows me to be able to stand for long periods in comfort, it’s really handy for when I’m on the ward doing rounds.”

Recently, Anna has also been fitted with an Ottobock 3S80 Sports knee and blade so she can learn to run again.

“I’ve not been running for a long time so I’m really excited to learn again,” she said. “I’ve already tried it and it’s so much better than I thought it could be!”

Dawn Crofts, Anna’s prosthetist at Dorset Orthopaedic’s Midlands clinic, said: “Anna has been a patient with us for many years now and it’s great to see her doing so well in her life with her C-Leg. We wish her all the best as she enters the final year of her medical studies.”