Steyn’s bumpy road to recovery
"Steyn wants an all round prosthetic knee so that he can pursue the lifestyle he had before his accident."
The Hoërskool Garsfontein learner who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident earlier this year, has undergone another operation.
Steyn Steenberg suffered the injury on Mother’s Day. On 3 October, he had to undergo another operation to his stump.
“A neuroma developed on one of the amputated nerves on Steyn’s amputated left leg. The nerve is close to the skin and therefore he has severe pain when he attaches his temporary prosthetic leg,” Steyn’s father Jacques said.
The Steenbergs consulted with Steyn’s orthopaedic surgeon who diagnosed the neuroma.
A neuroma was a common side-effect after traumatic amputations and was extremely painful.
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“After he was diagnosed with the neuroma his spirit lifted as he now knew that something was wrong on his stump and it would probably be much better after surgery. The only worry is his recovery time and missing more work at school,” said Jacques.
Jacques also said Steyn struggled to walk with his temporary prosthetic leg because of severe pain on the stump that got worse daily.
“Steyn has to spend the whole day at school on the prosthetic leg. The pain just gets unbearable.
“Although medication makes it possible for him to cope on the short term, he decided to go for surgery as soon as possible, as the situation is not beneficial to his rehabilitation,” Jacques said.
During the operation last week, a revision of his stump was done under more desirable conditions than the original traumatic amputation.
The stump had bone growth on the amputated femur and access skin on his stump because the muscles shrunk over the last few months.
Steyn’s road to recovery has been rather bumpy.
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“Two weeks ago, the young man was quite discouraged and had a philological setback.
“Academically things did not go as well as planned as he missed nearly three months and was expected to write tests even though he was behind.
“We hope he can spend sufficient individual sessions with his teachers before the year-end exam,” Jacques said.
The Steenbergs have joined hands with the Caring Daisies to help raise funds for a proper prosthetic leg.
“Pray for the young man and please support his fundraising campaign. He dearly wants an all round prosthetic knee so that he can pursue the lifestyle he had before his accident,” Jacques said.
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