Coal's Case Study

"When I brought Coal to see Noel, there really wasn’t very much hope for him since cancer had eaten away his wrist, he had arthritis in his knees and he took most of his bodyweight on his front end. Therefore I felt that he would not have managed on three legs, and until that point full leg amputation or euthanasia was all I’d been offered. Neither he nor I were ready to say goodbye.

The cancer wasn’t of a type that would likely spread quickly and so if it were cut out, he could potentially live for quite some time. The ITAP didn’t just improve Coal’s quality of life, it gave him life. As far as I am concerned the ITAP and associated external prosthesis saved his life. Coal led a perfectly normal life after the operation, there was absolutely nothing he couldn’t do. He would use his prosthetic leg to bash at the door to be let out, and used it with his good paw to hold food and toys, as well as give you his “paw” when he wanted a treat. The most amazing thing was people never noticed he had a prosthetic leg until they actually looked closely.

There was nothing in the way he walked or ran that gave it away, his movement was perfectly natural, and, most importantly, pain free. I shall be eternally grateful to Fitzpatrick Referrals for this gift of life, and for managing to achieve the perfect marriage of compassion and science for me and for Coal."