“I did it, I did it! I can walk!”

Jackie takes her first steps unaided after her hip replacement operation in January.

Jackie lives in one our supported living services in Birmingham and for a while she’s been having difficulty walking due to pain and the deterioration of her hip.

She really needed a full hip replacement, but she had a partial repair about five years ago. Last November, Jackie was in so much pain she couldn’t put any weight on her hip – she ended up in hospital for two days.

Danielle, one of her support workers, pushed for Jackie to receive a full hip replacement, which her consultant eventually approved. Jackie underwent the first stage of her hip replacement in January.

Last week, Jackie took her first steps without any assistance, which was a massive achievement for her and a significant milestone in her recovery.

Danielle said: “Jackie had lost a lot of her independence since being in the hospital. She used to do a lot, she’s very social and loves to go out but the pain and discomfort of her hip has stopped her from doing many of the things that she usually would. It was really hard to get her to go out.

“Jackie loves going on shopping trips and going for food and mocktails but because of her hip, she didn’t want to go anymore. It stopped her from going to see her mum as well because there’s a step to get up to her mum’s house.

“Her surgery went well. It helped the pain but she’d continue to walk with her frame due to her lack of confidence, she was worried she’d fall and hurt herself without it.

“I think the big thing was encouraging her with her confidence, her fear was falling or making it worse for herself but thanks to the way the staff have worked with her and supported her it’s given her the confidence to try, and realise it’s okay.

“Last week she went to Sainsbury’s and decided that she wanted to push the trolley around the shop, and she did. We were all amazed! It was really nice because she got to do one of the things that she would have always done before she lost her confidence in walking.

When she got home she was walking around without her frame. She was so excited and shouting ‘I did it, I did it! I can walk!’ It’s a massive thing.

“She’s been able to do it for a while but she just hadn’t had the confidence to try. She’s been scared to in case anything happened but once she realised she could do it she was so happy! We’re all really proud of her.

The big motivator for her was all the things that she wanted to do that she wasn’t able to. She wanted to go for walks and she wanted to go into town shopping,  and we’d always say ‘when you’re better we can go and do that’. She’d had her eye on a Hunter bag that she wanted to buy and she’d say ‘well when I’m better I can go to town and get myself that bag’. When I came in and saw her the other day she was so excited that she could go out and buy it herself now!

“It’s just amazing really. We’re all really proud.”