Following a catastrophic MRSA infection, I lost my left leg above the knee when I was 43. Not ready to give in, I worked hard to become active and to walk again. I struggled accepting my new body image, and understandably my confidence was at an all time low.
Initially when I shopped around the mobility aid market I saw dull, ugly, purely functional walking sticks that made me feel old and past it too soon. The disabled community is a forgotten corner of society where designers never tread! It made me avoid going out because I felt conspicuous and judged. I knew if I felt like that, there would be many other people out there feeling it too. So using myself as a benchmark I thought about what I would want from my perfect walking stick. My wish list was colour, style and confidence. After researching materials, I made my own walking stick and people quickly began asking where I had bought it. That’s how Neo Walk was born. My walking stick gave me a new lease of life and growing self esteem, strangers no longer stared at my disability, they were simply in awe of my fabulous stick.
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