Zara Whiteley - Champion British Athlete
The daughter of active parents, Zara Whiteley was herself a sporty child and enjoyed all kinds of activities especially skiing, cycling and swimming.
Having completed eight GCSEs, Zara returned to her school’s sixth form to take her ‘A’ levels. However, a week and a half later her world turned upside down when she was involved in an accident on her scooter.
“I was going round the bend at the end of my mum’s road when a car hit me at 60 miles per hour. I watched it come down and hit me and the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor on my back. Apparently I had hit a wall when I came off,” explains Zara.
Zara was taken to the intensive care unit at Carlisle General Hospital before being transferred to Newcastle General where she endured numerous operations over a period of four weeks. Despite the hospital’s best efforts, Zara’s leg was finally amputated.
“When they first mentioned it I was very shocked and thought it wouldn't happen, but as time went on and I became so tired of the operations that I actually asked for it to be removed,” said Zara. “Meanwhile, the man who hit me sent me the bill for his car while I was in hospital!”
Zara says she regrets not receiving counselling or any form of rehabilitation around the time of her amputation. When she was first fitted for a prosthetic she was given, what she describes as, “an incredibly antiquated leg with a leather thigh gusset and a hinged knee!”
“I was 16 years old and this was appalling. Needless to say I did not wear it. I had one made after that which was better, but I still had no help walking or dealing with being an amputee. I still couldn't move my shoulder and when they took a vein out of my arm it stopped my thumb working and I couldn't write.”
After moving to Sheffield in 1989, Zara visited the Sheffield Limb centre but as she had now learned to walk she received no physiotherapy.
Some years later, while watching the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta on television, Zara began to think how great it would be to do some kind of sport again. “I asked if I could have different feet to enable me to do this but was told in no uncertain terms, that I wouldn’t be provided with anything to help me do a sport. Instead I was given an NHS Seattle foot. When I started going to the gym I got stared at and people didn't talk to me. I still get it now. But if I am going to do something I go for it big time.
“It wasn't until I had been training for two years or so that people realised I was serious. But the feet I had and the sockets I had weren't up to doing any sport on and I was going for replacements every few months. I had no glutes or quad muscles because I couldn't even walk properly never mind run. So I arranged with Springlite to send me their sprint leg over but then I had the problem of who to set it up. My prosthetist refused to do it and it was then that I was referred on to Pace founders Toby Carlsson and Richard Hirons.
Zara continues to enjoy many sporting activity now she has a prosthetic that is right for her needs and correctly fitted. Indeed, she is now a British champion and hold British records for no less than three events – 100m, 200m and long jump.
“There are few things I miss now,” she says. “Only paddling in the sea and being able to get up and have a wee in the night - I end up waking every one up because I'm like a baby elephant when I hop and I have no balance.”
Zara says her husband Mark, who she married in 1991, has had to deal with a lot of tantrums, tears and depression over the years as well as going through her six year court case with her.
“He's brilliant, he sorts my legs out, transports me everywhere and sees to our daughter Pria who is 10. Unfortunately I had problems with my eyes which meant I couldn’t drive until now so that has been a real pain. I now have a car and I am going to learn to drive this September.”