Atlantic storm the impetus for knee replacement

Company news

Sep 01, 2015

When retired senior fire office Roy Kane, 75 from Dousland on Dartmoor in Devon, started having problems with his knee, he endured seven years of pain before he opted for a knee replacement – and it was a storm in the Atlantic that moved him to action.

Roy said: “My wife and I were on a 33-day cruise across the North Atlantic and down to Barbados and other islands in the Caribbean. The weather was appalling and the journey was awful – the dining room windows blew in and two people had to be taken off the ship by helicopter. It was agony for me coping with the pitch and roll of the ship, and after a few days I said to my wife, ‘when we get home I’m going to get this knee fixed!’”

Roy, who is now a self-employed fire risk assessor, chose to have his treatment at Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre in Plymouth. It was not his first visit to the hospital as he had carried out the final fire safety check before it opened its doors in April 2005.

He said: “My knee was rubbing bone on bone and my leg was becoming out of alignment. I had my operation within two months of my referral for treatment and the whole experience was amazing – I have often said it was the first time I had ever enjoyed being in hospital.”

He added: “It’s fair to say that I was dreading the operation, which is why I put it off for so long. But I needn’t have worried – everyone at Peninsula were marvellous and great at putting me at ease, and my advice to anyone else in my position would be ‘go for it!’”

As a result of his operation Roy is now back to full fitness, enjoying mountain biking and trout fishing, as well as running his business.

Patricia Warwick, Hospital Director at Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre, commented: “We are delighted to hear that Roy had such a good outcome and that his patient experience was excellent. We are also really pleased that, as a result of his good experience, Roy has joined our Patient Forum as part of a group of wonderful people who help us to develop the hospital and our services.”