Wirral woman who had to learn to walk again 10 times is running half marathon for Alder Hey

A Wirral woman who had to learn to walk again 10 times after operations to treat a rare bone condition is now planning to run the Manchester Half Marathon.

Amy Hannigan, 28, from Spital, underwent 18 operations and endured years of physiotherapy after breaking her leg as a toddler and being diagnosed with pseudoarthrosis.

The condition means a broken bone fails to heal properly, and instead of becoming solid again stays weak and moves like a joint. 

It left Amy unable to walk unaided, and it was only thanks to painstaking research and effort on behalf of doctors at Alder Hey and numerous operations over 15 years that the young fashion buyer has been able to live her life out of a wheelchair.

Amy re-learned to walk again for the final time at the age of 17 and has since gone on to be able to swim, ride a bike, and now, run!

And with the same courage and determination she has shown throughout her life she decided to brave the half marathon to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Charity.

“I can’t think of a better way to give back to the hospital that saved my legs,” says Amy. “If it wasn’t for them and everything they have done, I would have spent my life in a wheelchair.

“It’s important to me that I do something and help them continue their amazing work for future children and other families in need.”

She adds: “I’ll be very emotional when I cross the finish line on October 12.

“I well up even now when I’m thinking about it so on the day, with my friends and family there, I’ll probably be a wreck. The difference Alder Hey has made to my life is incredible.” 

Amy was 15 months old when she first broke her leg after falling while running after her brother on holiday in the Vendée, France.

“I broke my tibia and then the two bones failed to fuse together. When I tried to walk, the leg just gave way; it was like trying to walk on a broken leg constantly,” she explains.

“It was extremely painful and there was no support in my leg because I had this gap in my bone.

“I can remember, especially after I started school, my friends doing things I couldn’t.

“They’d have trampolining parties and roller blading parties and while I went along because I didn’t want to miss out, I couldn’t join in.

“They went to ballet and dance – and I couldn’t.

“I was lucky that my parents let me go along and try and didn’t wrap me up in cotton wool – there’s a picture of me hopping on a trampoline holding someone’s hand, so I still got to have a go even though there were plenty of things I couldn’t do.”

For the first few years Alder Hey trialled numerous cages and metal frames to try to help the bones knit back together, and when they failed to work they carried out an operation to replace the tibia in Amy’s right leg with the fibula from her left.

“That was a saving operation and the bone’s remained in place, albeit there have been more operations to extend it as I grew.

“It was also quite weak so I have broken that bone a couple of times too.”

Amy spent a lot of time in hospital including regular physio sessions.

“I had to relearn how to walk several times, maybe up to 10 times. Surgeries would leave my tendons or ligaments feeling strange, or I’d lose feeling in my toes.

“My achilles was damaged in one so it was left a bit short, and there was a lot of muscle work I needed to do to build up strength, and learn how to put pressure on my new bone and where to put my foot.

“It was frustrating and hard to have to do it again and again.  It took some digging down, particularly after I’d just done my GCSEs and I’d spent nine months in a wheelchair and I had to go through the pain and pressure all over again.”

Amy, who marries fiancée Lauren in June next year, learned to swim and ride a bike but assumed she would never run: “But as a teenager I took off a plastic gaiter that supported my leg because I was conscious about it and after that my goal was to get better at walking, and it spiralled from there.

“During lockdown, when I was at home with my parents and we went on walks, I was surprised how far I could walk because I’d built up strength, and so then I did the couch to 5K … although it took six months to get anywhere near the 5K.

“It was a friend who did a half marathon who reckoned everyone had one in them – and I thought maybe I could do that.”

Amy has already passed the £500 fundraising target she set for the 21K run by reaching more than £1,000 for Alder Hey, and anything on top of that ‘will be a bonus’.

“Considering how scary and challenging my condition was, my memories of Alder Hey are hugely positive, which is 100% down to the amazing staff. The nurses bandaged my teddies to help me feel less scared, the porters made me laugh while wheeling me to operations, the plaster staff put pink bunnies on my gaiters, and the physios made everything fun. 

“My real hero is Mr Nayagam, my consultant who led all my surgeries.

“I’m not a great runner. I’m not even 100% sure my reconstructed legs have got 21.1km of running in them but I’ll do my best to get over the line.”

Help Amy support Alder Hey Children’s Charity here.

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