At the age of 12, Hope Gordon’s life changed in the blink of an eye. During what was a routine day, her leg felt as though it had simply “stopped working.”
A year later, she was diagnosed with little-known Complex Pain Syndrome.
For the next nine years, it dominated every aspect of her life. An accidental bump could leave her bedbound for days and in excruciating pain.
A blanket over the top of her legs caused such distress that she was forced to stay cold. Sleep suffered. Life suffered.
By the age of 21, Gordon had decided that amputation was the only solution to what had become a life-inhibiting problem.
The only issue was that it was not regarded by the NHS as a viable solution to her condition.
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So while her contemporaries were graduating from university and starting out in their first jobs, Gordon was crowdfunding £10,000 to raise the money for her own leg amputation.
“There were definitely people who didn’t understand it,” recalled Gordon. “But I was hyper-sensitive to everything. Every single moment of every single day was so difficult.
“Getting in and out of a car was so difficult, living was so difficult. The wind against my skin was painful.
“I was a zombie for the best part of a decade because I simply couldn’t get more than an hour or two of snatched sleep a night.”
Gordon still remembers the first moments of waking up after successfully undergoing the operation.
“I always remember smiling at the nurse,” she said. “I came round after the operation and they asked me how I was doing.
“I was super aware of having a blanket around me and, for the first time in ten years, that felt good.
“The people around me, my family, my close friends, all knew what I had been going through and had been through for so long.
“I knew my own body and I knew it was the right thing to do.
“For the first time in ten years I didn’t have the feeling that there was barbed wire being dragged over my burning skin.
“I woke up from the operation feeling as though I could breathe for the first time in ten years.”
Exactly a decade on from the day she came out of the operating theatre in a Glasgow hospital, Gordon’s anniversary celebration was quite something.
Having been part of Scotland’s Commonwealth Games squad, where she was the first female to compete in Para-powerlifting for Scotland, she spent the “full-circle” day enjoying everything her new life has given her.
“As soon as I saw that the closing ceremony was on the 2nd August, I knew I had to be there,” she said.
“On the day itself, there we were walking over with our kilts on across to the SEC Armadillo, our T-shirts and our traffic cones on our heads, and I could see the hospital ward in Yorkhill where I spent so much time in my teens.
“My Mum, Rona, my Dad, John, and my brother, Sean, have seen all of it.
“They knew the really difficult moments that we had in there, more than anyone else. They lived all of the really low moments, the days when we didn’t know what was ahead of us.
“So that day, being part of something that was such a celebration on the tenth anniversary of my operation was really special.”
It would seem that, in the decade since the operation, Gordon has squeezed in as much as possible to make up for the lost years of her teens.
She is the first athlete in history to compete at a Summer Paralympics, Winter Paralympics and Commonwealth Games across three different sports.
Swimming was her first port of call following surgery before she transitioned to paracanoeing in 2018. She made her international debut within a year.
Competing internationally for Great Britain, Gordon has won medals on the World Cup circuit and at major championships, and competed at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
She then switched to Nordic skiing, representing ParalympicsGB at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.
She warmed up for this summer’s Games in Glasgow by winning two gold medals in paracanoeing just ten days before the tournament began, and also fought off food poisoning to make it.
“It always crosses my mind when I am on a podium or in moments like the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow that the reason I am there is down to the generosity of so many strangers who helped me crowdfund for my operation.
“I will never be able to repay my thanks. Sport has given me so much and I am so grateful that this is what my life looks like.
“It is funny… none of my parents are particularly sporty people. They have been my biggest cheerleaders, but they themselves aren’t big into sport in terms of participating. My Dad watches plenty of it!
“My life is unrecognisable from what it was. I train so hard and work so hard and I love every minute of it. But I will always be grateful to all of the people who made it possible.
“It was a dream of mine to compete for Scotland. This summer was just so remarkably special.
“I don’t think I have the words to adequately convey just what it felt like to be in front of a home crowd, feeling that support and embracing everything that I have been able to enjoy.”
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