When Steve Quinton had a full knee replacement, he knew his lifestyle would change – but he hadn’t expected the impact on his overall wellbeing.
An active firefighter and sports lover, he suddenly found climbing stairs a struggle. Yet one goal stayed firmly in his mind: playing cricket with his son again. Thanks to our support, he now hopes to make that a reality.
“I’ve been a supporter of Fire Fighters Charity from the very start of my career,” says Steve, who’s now an Area Manager working in prevention and protection with Avon FRS. “I was a Secretary back when the charity was the Benevolent Fund and I’m now the unofficial Service Coordinator.
“I also had support in 1999 after tearing my cruciate ligament while skiing, and went to Jubilee House for rehabilitation. It was fantastic.”
Steve says his experience has remained firmly in his mind in the years since, until more recently when he began experiencing a lot of knee pain.
“I had a total knee replacement in November last year, and while the knee itself has been brilliant, I had issues associated with it which caused a lot of pain.
“I reached out to the charity again and was offered online physio sessions which I found really, really helpful. Just simple little things to try at home, but they were so beneficial.
“I was then fortunate to visit Harcombe House in July, which provided intensive rehabilitation and physio. It was brilliant, I turned up on the Sunday night and the whole week flew by, I can’t thank the team enough for what they’ve done.”
Steve says what he hadn’t expected from his stay were the mental wellbeing benefits.
“What I stress to other people is, whilst I was there for my injury (and the physio programme given to me was bespoke and fantastic), there’s also the non-physical stuff as well,” says Steve.
“We did sessions around managing pain and the mental health around that, because going from somebody that was always active and wanting to do stuff to just not being able to walk up and down stairs properly and then having this pain, it does challenge you mentally to be honest.
“The group sessions were really brilliant, which you don’t really expect to get.”
Since then, Steve, who’s a keen runner, has seen huge progress – so much so, he sprinted for the first time recently.
“Just to see what you get in return for your donations or your fundraising is fantastic”
Steve Quinton
“I love walking my dog, playing cricket and of course running, so I’m looking forward to getting back to some of those hobbies,” he adds.
“It’s playing cricket with my 16-year-old son which I’ve really missed, however. I was worried I might never get that chance again. If I just can do that one more time, that would be amazing – and I now have hope that it’ll be possible.
“The facilities across all the centres, certainly from my experience of Harcombe, are second to none. The experts that are there, you don’t get that anywhere else.
“The charity relies completely on donations, so just to see what you get in return for your donations or your fundraising is fantastic.
“You almost don’t want to use it, but when you do, you see the benefit of it. I also felt quite guilty, thinking I wasn’t ‘bad enough’. I felt like I was taking up a space for somebody else. But it was hearing that actually, I was entitled to be there as a member of the FRS, then once you’re there you see like-minded people – some in a worse position, some in a better position, all with different challenges.”
If you feel you’d benefit from our health and wellbeing support, you can call our Support Line on 0800 389 8820, make an enquiry online or click below: