10,000 will buy Lucy legs

The 17-year-old wants to step out in confidence following the traumatic amputation of both her legs and all her fingers after she contracted meningitis.

But the NHS can only afford to supply her with cumbersome, uncomfortable limbs.

Lucy wants to wear fashionable clothes and shoes. To do this she needs lifelike limbs made of silicone like those worn by model Heather Mills, the girlfriend of Sir Paul McCartney.

Heather today advised Lucy and her family to "shout as loud as they could.

She said: "It just shows you the poor state of the limb service on the NHS. It is now possible to get silicone covers on the NHS. They just don't want to promote this. "It's hard enough to deal with the loss of a limb never mind to know that there are good ones out there and to be told you cannot have them."

Heather added that providing better prostheses would save the Government money in the long term, by cutting down disability benefits and psychological counselling costs.

She added: "The budget for artificial limbs allocated today is half what it was 15 years ago. How can they believe the service is any good, never-mind getting any better?"

And Janet Mace, co-ordinator for the Oxfordshire Council of Disabled People, said: "Young people need limbs that look good.

They shouldn't need to raise money by sitting in a bath of baked beans.'' Lucy, of Crow Lane, Great Bourton, near Banbury, fell ill with meningitis in June last year. She developed the blood infection meningococcal septicaemia and surgeons at St Mary's Hosptial in London had no choice but to remove her lower legs and all her fingers to save her life.

Lucy was fitted with her current NHS limbs at Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

She said: "The hospital staff have been really great and always ensured that I was comfortable, without any waiting. They even made me a special pair of swimming legs for my holiday, and always do their best to help."

Dr Dougal Morrison, consultant in rehabilitation at the NOC, said: "We are restricted on the cosmetic finish of a prosthesis. The NHS cover doesn't look like skin. Health authorities feel they can't afford these cosmetic finishes but there is a Government working group looking into this to see if the policy should be changed.''

For now, Lucy faces continual fundraising. Parts of the new legs, which she hopes to get by Christmas, will need replacing every 18 months to three years because of wear and tear, and she will need specialist prostheses for sports. A set of fingers at an additional cost of 10,000 will have to wait.

"I would really like the fingers, but at the moment the legs are more noticable and they're my priority," said Lucy. "Also, I want to save money because I know I will need so many legs in the future.

"I think about how rich you'd have to be to get the silicone legs without a struggle.

"Ideally everyone should be entitled to the legs on the NHS, especially children. Imagine not being able to wear shorts as a child.''

******* Special report by Anna Melville-James and Victoria Owen: Lucy Tong is in fine spirits. The energetic teenager giggles as she tries on a skirt. She wrinkles her face in disgust and discards it for a pair of cut-off denim shorts. The 17-year-old flashes a disarming smile and plays up for the camera.

But 11 months ago, Lucy's life changed for ever. She contracted meningitis, and both her legs and all her fingers were amputated.

The drastic surgery saved her life and Lucy knows she is lucky. Now she wants to have fun, go out with friends and pose in the latest fashions.

On the night of June 19, 1999, after a short bout of what she thought was flu, Lucy was rushed to hospital. She had meningococcal septicaemia, an illness caused by bacteria entering the bloodstream. The blood poisoning forced surgeons to carry out the amputations.

Since then, Lucy has been coming to terms with a physical reality most people will never have to contemplate. She strides about the garden at her home in Crow Lane, Great Bourton, near Banbury, posing for the camera.

Her dazzling smile draws the eye away from the cumbersome, pale artificial legs supplied by the NHS.

Lucy is planning a fundraising campaign. She needs 10,000 for silicon limbs. Ideally, she would like a set of fingers too, but at an additional 10,000 these must wait. The teenager is back on her nursery nursing course at North Oxfordshire College, Banbury, and is learning to drive a specially-adapted car. Best of all, she says, she is going out again with her friends.

"It feels like a whole different world. Before, I didn't have time to think of anything else but my situation. Now, it is just like it was this time last year," she says.

Except that, unlike this time last year, Lucy has to deal with the loss of her natural limbs and their replacement with heavy, unwieldy NHS prostheses.

Despite her monumental will, the artificial limbs still tire her and drive a wedge between her and her goal of living a normal teenage life.

Because her amputated legs are very sensitive, her artificial limbs have heavy liners and are cushioned with layers of socks which gives her mobility but not comfort.

Doctors at Oxford's Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre have given her permission to wear a set of slimmer limbs, without a liner and with a locking mechanism in the sockets. It's better, but not ideal. The limbs still cover her knees with a bulky and unattractive bulge, and the basic NHS version are far from realistic in skin tone and colour.

The silicone limbs Lucy has set her heart on will be moulded to the knee, precision-matched to her skin and individually crafted with details such as moles, lifelike toes and toenails that can be painted. She will even be able to chose the size and shape of her own feet.

"I want to be a size five, because you can get cheap trainers!" she laughs.

For Lucy, the dream is that one day soon she will be able to wear tights and sandals again, but there's a lot of cash to be raised before she can enjoy this simple pleasure.

Her family mum Elaine, 46, dad David, 52, and sisters Sarah, 31, and Helen, 27 have joined friends in the launch of the fundraising campaign. Lucy says: "It has been unbelievable. Schools and playgroups, pubs and hairdressers everyone you can think of has done events to raise money." Elaine adds: "Everyone has been so supportive, sending cheques and letters, some just signed 'a friend'. It's obvious from the response and the lovely letters that there are a lot of very kind people out there."

Lucy is turning her attention to other challenges: next year she wants to study for an HND in Birmingham. But she doesn't let her problems stand in the way any longer.

"I don't really think about it much now. I don't get up in the morning and put my legs on and groan. I just do it."

*****If you want to help, you can write to Lucy, c/o Newsdesk, Oxford Mail, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0EJ.