Alton Towers amputee Leah Washington shares throwback snap of day she was fitted with her first prosthetic leg after the 2015 crash as fans say it shows ‘how far she’s come’
- Leah Washington had her leg amputated following the 2015 Alton Towers crash
- She took to Instagram to share a photo of being fitted with her first prosthetic
- Fans praised her and said it showed just how far she had come since the crash
- Leah and boyfriend Joe Pugh were on their first date and are still together
Alton Towers crash survivor Leah Washington has shared a photo of the day she was fitted with her first prosthetic after having her leg amputated almost six years ago.
Leah, 23, went to the theme park on her first date with current boyfriend Joe Pugh in June 2015. Her life changed forever when their carriage on the Smiler rollercoaster smashed into a stationary train.
Leah, from South Yorkshire, was one of two young passengers who lost a leg while Joe suffered devastating injuries including two shattered kneecaps.
Taking to Instagram yesterday, Leah shared photographs of the day she was first fitted with a prosthetic leg, some two months after the crash.
Alton Towers crash survivor Leah Washington has shared a photo of the day she was fitted with her first prosthetic after having her leg amputated almost six years ago (above)
Leah, from South Yorkshire, was one of two young passengers who lost a leg while Joe suffered devastating injuries including two shattered kneecaps. Pictured, Leah today
Leah, 23, went to the theme park on her first date with current boyfriend Joe Pugh in June 2015. Her life changed forever when their carriage on the Smiler rollercoaster smashed into a stationary train
In the images, Leah is still wearing thick bandages around her legs and torso and her limbs are bruised.
She wrote: ‘Throughout my time as a amputee I’ve been cast numerous time due to shrinkage, weight loss or gain and revision surgery.
‘They basically take a cast of your stump (little leg as I like to call it) and create a socket from that cast, the socket is how they connect your stump to the prosthetic leg.
‘They make a clear “check” socket so they can see how your stump is sitting in the socket. This way they can make adjustments by melting and reshaping the socket before creating the finished product.
Taking to Instagram yesterday, Leah shared photographs of the day she was first fitted with a prosthetic leg, some two months after the crash
‘This is done as and when required and usually takes around 20 minutes to do. So yeah just a little insight I thought I’d share on the process of sockets & prosthetics as it’s not a one size fits all kinda thing.’
The post was met with praise from followers who thanked Leah for being open and honest.
One commented: ‘It’s really great to see this and it shows just how far you’ve come.’
Another wrote: ‘Thank you for sharing. It’s helpful to understand.’
A third added: ‘These are such incredible pictures to share.’
Leah has more than 22,000 followers on Instagram and regularly shares update of her life with Joe and her recovery progress. Pictured, in a snap shared last year
Posting earlier this month, she revealed she was back on her ‘blade’ prosthetic after six months off due to ongoing hip pain. Pictured, Leah in a recent Instagram snap
Leah has more than 22,000 followers on Instagram and regularly shares update of her life with Joe and her recovery progress.
Posting earlier this month, she revealed she was back on her ‘blade’ prosthetic after six months off due to ongoing hip pain.
‘My physio finally said I was allowed to slowly introduce my blade back into my exercise so here we are,’ she wrote.
‘I’ve started by adding skipping into my exercise routine under my physios instruction to then build up into running again! Using my blade is very challenging, I’m a long way off running but I’ll get there eventually.’
Leah Washington and boyfriend Joe Pugh celebrated their fifth anniversary last year – almost five years to the day they enjoyed their first date at the amusement park on June 2nd 2015
What happened during the Alton Towers Smiler crash?
On June 2, 2015, visitors were removed from the Alton Towers Smiler ride after a warning light indicated a fault.
Staff sent a test train around the track, but it didn’t make it around. Due to a breakdown in communication, staff did not realise this carrigage was still sitting on the track.
Passengers were let back on but as the first carriage made its way around, the computer system stopped it because it showed something was blocking the track.
Engineers were still not aware that there was a fifth carriage sitting on the track and overrode a fault which had been detected by the computer system, sending the ride crashing into an empty carriage with the force of a ’90mph car crash’.
At least 16 were injured and five people were seriously hurt.
Leah Washington from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and Vicky Balch from Leyland, Lancashire, were both forced to undergo leg amputations as a result of the horror crash.
The Smiler at Alton Park, where 16 people were injured in a 2015 collision (file picture). An investigation found that a computer block stopping the ride because of a stationary car on the track had been over-ridden by staff, causing the crash
Joe Pugh, also from Barnsley, and Daniel Thorpe, 28, from Buxton, Derbyshire, also suffered serious leg injuries, along with 49-year-old Chandaben Chauhan.
The trapped ride-goers had to wait more than four hours to be freed from the crumpled carriage while rescue workers battled to reach them as they sat 25ft up in the air at an angle of about 45 degrees, pinned in by the mangled metal.