Stephen Burnley Rare Adult Survivor Of Post Trauma Dighragmatic Hernia Rectification Surgery Running The Lincoln 10K For Forces Childrens Trust 21st March 2010www.steveburnley.blogspot.com/
www.justgiving.com/Stephen-Burnley
Hi, my name is Steve Burnley, I’m now 39 Years of Age and a very rare adult survivor of a diaphragmatic hernia, thanks to too many people to name and who looked after and supported both me and my family.I'm embarking on fund raising events to raise money for children who have lost parents through illness or conflict, and children born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia conditions; I'd like to do my bit to help with the healing process that children have to endure as part of their grieving process.
I'm starting with the Lincoln 10K 2010 on the 21st of March (please see link below) on behalf of Forces Childrens Trust, and will move on to other things. This will be a major achievement as I could never run this far when I was fit and able, let alone now, as I struggled to run 100 yrds at the beginning of January 2010 - however, with some hard work and dedication, I managed to reach the magical 10k marker on Tuesday 2nd March for the first time ever and took me 8 weeks to achieve; I'm therefore very grateful of your support as I embark on this initial challenge.
http://www.lincoln.gov.uk/menu_map_level_3.asp?sec_id=4477
I’d also like to tell you a little bit about the event and also share my story of how I became to have a diaphragmatic hernia condition, so that you can see how this came about and how the events of a somewhat light hearted school trip, turned into many years of adversity in having to deal with the condition; I hope you find this informative and I look forward to sharing my trials and tribulations through my blog; please bear with me as I tell my story and I hope my pictures don't shock you as they're not meant to.Its June 1986, a beautiful sunny day, and I’m on a school excursion to the Lincolnshire Show aged 15 years.
Everyone on the coach is really excited as I remember, as this is an annual trip for 4th Year students around Lincolnshire.Whilst I don’t remember anything of the day, events that were about to happen, would have a massive impact on my life from that day on – and indeed still does to this date, November 2nd 2009. At the end of the trip, there I was, sitting on the coach getting ready to return back to school, when a close friend, Ian Derby, asked a number of us if we would like to get an ice cream whilst awaiting the return of the rest of the party
.I’d spent all the money I had, to which he offered to treat me. Naturally I accepted and joined him and a number of friends to the ice cream van; me at the very back of the queue on a corner junction.
Unbeknown to me, a tractor was approaching, towing a silage bowser; the type used for maintaining the public toilet facilities at the Lincolnshire Showground. The driver, being somewhat inexperienced at driving such a vehicle in such circumstances, navigated the junction as if he were driving a car, and the trailer cut the corner taking me with it.
Unfortunately for me, my clothing snagged near the wheel guard on the left hand side of the vehicle and I got dragged between the wheel guard and the wheels, and then along the road for some distance before a member of the public was able to flag the driver to stop.As a result, I suffered massive internal organ damage as well as skeletal damage, one of which turned out to be a perforated diaphragm. I underwent major surgery to repair my injuries and spent many weeks in Intensive Care fighting for my life; however little was done to repair my diaphragm during surgery at this point.
Subsequent scans revealed only a small perforation, and my stomach had developed a small gastro bubble which was forcing its way through my diaphragm. The treatment was to insert a tube into my stomach to release the bubble, allowing my stomach to drop, and allow the diaphragm to repair naturally; something I later found out had not been the case and nearly cost me my life a second time.
In subsequent years, I suffered greatly from severe internal abdominal pain, chest pains, breathing difficulties, gastro and bowel problems, and resigned myself to the fact that my body had taken a beating and that I would have to learn to live with it as I was grateful to still be alive; not advice I would offer now, now that I have the pleasure of hindsight so to speak.
Jump forward to 2007 and I have the pleasure of a very good job, fantastic and supportive wife, children, family and friends. I return from a business trip to India, only to have contracted acute gastroenteritis, which resulted in me being admitted to hospital for nearly two weeks for treatment and recovery.
Whilst in hospital, I had various x-rays and scans, one of which discovered that I had a very large tear in my diaphragm and my stomach, bowel and a number of other organs were now lodged in my left lung cavity; leaving me with a potentially life threatening severe diaphragmatic hernia.Whilst discussing the next steps with the consultant, we covered my past history and it wasn’t clear whether this was congenital and my previous injuries had discovered it, or whether indeed it was as a result of the accident and this had been progressively getting worse over a number of years; thus the cause of all of the abdominal pain which was as a result of the tear getting larger and my organs moving.
That said, and whilst I was functioning perfectly okay as I was, and in the condition I was in, a decision had to be made and I took the choice to have it repaired.I entered Lincoln County Hospital on June 2nd 2008, fully aware of the risks associated with having evasive open surgery. Whilst I don’t remember a lot of what happened to be able to recall, I’ll do my best to fill in the gaps.
First attempts to repair the defect via keyhole surgery failed due to the volume of organs in my left lung cavity, so I had to be ‘opened up’ for want of a better phrase, from my sternum down to my pubis, whereby surgery was conducted to return my organs to their natural position and a mesh plate put in place to bridge the gap.
Following scans a few days later, unfortunately the mesh had come away; revealing the large tear once again, and my organs returned back up into my lung cavity. A further operation was conducted which saw me opened up from my sternum, right to left across my midriff, the same operation performed, and a titanium plate put in place this time.
Unfortunately I also had to have some of my stomach removed and a splenectomise carried out.If all that wasn’t enough, further scans revealed what looked like waste on my lung where my bowel was thought to have punctured. I therefore went through another operation to take my lung out through my back to be cleaned up and repositioned. Funnily enough my wife thinks this scar is the best one out of the many I now have.In the days and weeks to come, I had to have a Life Support system inserted into my throat in order to keep me alive and allow my body to rest and recover, amongst many other procedures that happened during that time; some not very pleasant to mention. What was supposed to take ten too twelve days in total, resulted in me being in Intensive Care for 56 days and 2 days on the ward, before being released home from hospital in order to safeguard against infection.
One of the strangest things to happen to me whilst in an induced coma for a long period of that time, is that I had some very vivid and pointed dreams, all of which I could recall in great detail once able to write and speak again. The reason this happens, so I’m told, is that whilst in a state of coma, the brain fills in the gaps and recalls many accounts that it has experienced and presents them in the form of these vivid dreams.
On leaving hospital and returning home, I spent may months learning to walk, talk, socialise and accept what had happened, however having been through something similar at the age of 15 years, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy and just had to grit my teeth and take it day by day, but with clear goals in mind.I foolishly returned to work too early and something I would certainly advise people in a similar state as me not to do. But I did it and I’m now back full time, working as a Principal Consultant Programme Test Manager with my current employer.
Reflecting on the past 23 years, things have been very hard and my life was changed dramatically on that day back in June 1986. I’d also like to think that I, with the support of my fantastic family and friends, have made the right decisions and wouldn’t change a thing.
Whilst my story appears very acute, and it’s highly unlikely that many people would have, or even will experience the same adversity, I am an adult survivor and I would now like to do my bit for children in adversity, as my children nearly were, but had to endure a lot for ones so young. Finally, I truly whish all those affected by this condition the very best of luck and good will and I hope I can give something back to others less fortunate than me.
Steve Burnley – Lincoln – 39 Years and still going strong
All the bestSteve.