Summary
"I am so pleased to have started down this path”. LA Volunteer Visitor Lawrence
My name is Lawrence, and I’m an LA Volunteer Visitor. I volunteer with the Limbless Association to share my lived experience with others like me, hopefully for their benefit – it’s the very least I think that I can do. I joined the LA VV programme as a new amputee, and the experience greatly resonated with me.
Within my volunteer role, I meet with other amputees who contact the LA seeking help and advice. There is usually a context for meeting with them, with assistance required in particular areas of their lives. We can discuss their situation and, if required, can signpost to other services which may be helpful for them. In my volunteering role, I am supported throughout by the LA. They manage the meeting arrangements and are always on hand to discuss a call afterwards if needed.
Each call I have with an amputee seeking guidance about life after limb loss brings memorable moments! Providing each caller with advice is memorable, and each call helps me, the volunteer, to know and understand more about life as an amputee.
Being a Volunteer Visitor with the LA was a long-held ambition of mine. However, in reality, the experience has been better than I had hoped. There is structured training, a great community of other volunteers and support staff who I consider friends, and of course, the feeling of worth of being able to help. I am so glad the opportunity came to me.
Being an amputee is a life challenge. No one prepares you for it, and the information required in transitioning from one’s old life to the new isn’t generally available. Knowing how challenging it is, having taken that journey and having acquired knowledge and experience in the process, to be able to share that and signpost similar people is massively rewarding. I am so pleased to have started down this path, and it’s one I will continue to follow for as long as it helps others like me.
