When Brad Griffiths came round from an induced coma at Morriston Hospital, his right arm was gone below the elbow.
The former soldier, now 45, had been driving a lorry for work when it collided with two other lorries near Whitland in November 2022.
Fire crews cut him free and Wales Air Ambulance flew him to Morriston, where he spent eight weeks, five of them in an induced coma.
“In my head it felt like people were staring”
“In the early stages after the accident I did struggle with my mental health, in coming to terms with the loss of my arm. I was very conscious about my body image,” he said.
“And I didn’t want to see anybody, I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to leave the house to do the shopping because in my head it felt like people were staring.”
Now the father-of-three is back doing the everyday jobs most people take for granted, like preparing food and changing the bed covers.
He has a bespoke prosthetic arm from the hospital’s Artificial Limb and Appliance Service. He credits a new course it runs with giving him the confidence to use it.
Navigating Life After Amputation, a nine-session online course
Brad was one of the first people to take Navigating Life After Amputation, an online wellbeing course for people coming to terms with losing a limb.
It was devised by the Morriston service with psychologists at Wales’s other two limb centres, in Cardiff and Wrexham.
The service’s principal psychologist, Dr Rebecca Antwhistle, said the centres cover “such big, rural patches” that going online made sense.
The nine sessions are based on acceptance and commitment therapy, a form of talking therapy. Participants set their own goals, practise mindfulness, and learn about rehabilitation and living with pain.
“The last session that brings it all together is focused on rethinking identity,” she said.
“I’ve met some amazing people”
For Brad, the biggest difference was meeting people in the same position. He was the only upper limb amputee on the course, and he still speaks regularly to some of the others.
“The bond I’ve made with some of those on the course and throughout my rehabilitation has been unbelievable,” he said. “The support it gave us, and the support we give each other, has been invaluable.
“The course really gave me the self-confidence to think I can start living my life again.”
“My prosthetic arm is great, but I don’t even always have to use it because I have the confidence not to.”
Dr Antwhistle said Brad had shown “remarkable resilience, positivity and determination”, and wanted to use his experience to help others facing the same thing.
The same limb centre helped a Carmarthenshire dad walk his daughter down the aisle after he lost both his lower legs.
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