Leg amputation: “If you have wings, you don’t need legs”

Live with a leg amputation
If you have wings, you don’t need legs!

It all started with a big dream

My story taught me on top of one more thing: we can travel all over the world, but in the end we end up on our own. However, I did not even realize that I had not started it when I was in my mid-twenties. Fulfill my biggest dream Dream of a journey around the world. Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada – I wanted to see the world, have experience and definitely have fun.

I had already booked my “Around the World” ticket when my mother, with whom I was very close, succumbed to cancer and died. It literally took the rug out from under my feet, and I stayed with my brother and father to mourn with them.

Crash in the outback

Less than six months later I flew to Australia to go on a trip. I knew that my mother would want me to fulfill my big dream. But at the other end of the world, fate struck a second time.

On the way to Ularu, as the Australian natives call their sacred mountain, three friends and I had a serious accident – in the middle of the outback. My friend died and I battled my life in intensive care for weeks. I won this battle, but the lower part of my left leg had to be amputated. The more I do about the game, the bigger the shock. Because my most important question was not just this: Will I be able to walk again? But: will I ever be able to play again? And what about travel?

It was my chance to heal the moments of greatest frustration

In the months following the accident, I did not learn to walk with just one prosthesis. I too felt my life back step by step. Initially I was still struggling with frustration, helplessness and the question “Why did all this happen to all people?”, I learned over time that there was no answer. We cannot influence what happens to us in life. But we are impressed with how we deal with it.

We can travel around the world, but in the end we end up on our own.

I realized that if we follow our heart path then our possibilities are almost limitless. So I not only learned to walk with prostheses, but over time I was able to play again. I swim in Lake Zurich, climb the tallest rock, play tennis again and also learn to ski on one leg.

Many people ask me how positive and fun I remained despite these tremors of fate. I think I owe a mixture of inner strength, spiritual faith, and many lovely people in my life.

Stroke of luck doesn’t mean the end

It is most important for me to go through everything I have learned from this time. Today, as an alternative therapist with my own natural practice, I treat people who suffer from phantom pain and also support it Pickup project. Empute people help other affected people to deal with difficult situations.

I can also share my story and my ways in a new old life with more and more people. Each one of us can truly be shaken by luck in life. The most important thing is to realize that it is the most difficult moment in life that gives us the opportunity for holistic healing. That we should never lose faith in the impossible and always walk in our own way.

By the way: My heart’s wish has not been fulfilled till date. Uluru is waiting and I cannot wait to finally complete this journey.

AuthorChristina Vachel grew up in Canada and Greece before going into freezing in Bavaria. She works as an alternative practitioner and with her practice with amputation of one leg with the coach and other victims with the “Piay Project”. In his book „If you have wings, you don’t need legs – how did I survive the worst year of my life and get beyond myself“(Harper Collins, 16 Euros) She writes about her life.