About Pace Rehabilitation

Jake Portrey from Leamington Spa was involved in a road traffic collision whilst riding his motorcycle and his life changed forever. Jake’s rehabilitation journey with Pace Rehabilitation – during the middle of a global pandemic – is a remarkable testament to the power of his mindset and approach to his recovery.

His case is a textbook example – the solicitors, the insurance company and the case manager – working together to provide Jake with the best opportunity for successful rehabilitation. By working collaboratively, with the support of the family, Jake has been able to make real progress in his rehabilitation and now has a tremendous opportunity to pursue his career and life ambitions. Following the incident, Jake was given two options: to amputate the leg or undergo a procedure to try to save it. As his mother explained: “Jake chose the latter, so we signed some consent forms and the doctors began the process of salvaging his leg. It began with two weeks of antibiotics, followed by 18 hours of surgery which resulted in a procedure to replace a lost tendon and shinbone.”

Following that initial operation, twelve weeks into his recovery, a setback occurred when, with his mobility still restricted, Jake collapsed at home and was immediately ‘blue lighted’ to hospital alongside his mum. “I called Jake’s plastic surgeon on the way the hospital to warn him that we were on the way. He met us there and Jake was whisked straight to theatre,” recalls Jenny. An hour later, the surgeon emerged to explain that options to save the leg were limited. The bone was infected with osteomyelitis, to the extent that the bone literally crumbled in the experienced surgeon’s hands.

On Friday 13th March 2020, just days before the first national ‘lockdown’, Jake underwent the procedure to amputate his limb below the knee. The operation was a success and in the words of his mother, it was the ‘start of a better life’with the daily physical pain he had been living with, since that Friday in November, now gone. Thanks to proactivity of Jake’s solicitor and case manager – with the support of his family – within 24 hours, Jake was a new patient of Pace Rehabilitation in Amersham and immediately received physiotherapy exercises and was sent the equipment to help him commence his rehabilitation journey.

“Having a case worker refer us to Pace was incredible. Jake has come on and got better and stronger ever since. The team are amazing and he’s in a very happy and positive place in his life now,” says his mother. Within a few weeks, Jake was walking on his prosthetic leg without any mobility aids.

The positive impact of the rehabilitation has been both physical and psychological for Jake who has already resumed his career as a mechanic, passed his driving test and is now working on growing his own business. He’s also back on a bike – currently a quad bike, but with a view to getting back on his beloved motorcycle very soon.