A NEWLY-qualified nurse is begging doctors to chop her leg off to save her career.
Milda Ambra “shattered” her ankle in a “freak” accident while bouldering with friends in on January 31.
The 24-year-old attempted a “controlled fall” from a 10ft wall but immediately noticed “something wasn’t right”.
On landing on the safety mat, she was horrified to see her left ankle was at a right angle.
Milda was rushed to hospital, where she discovered she had an extreme dislocation and break which required surgery – just two days after her graduation ceremony at the University of York.
But rather than healing as it should, the mental health nurse graduate claims the pain became so “intolerable” that she wants it removed completely.
She is now awaiting an operation to have her leg amputated at the knee.
“Gutted” Milda says she only began working full-time in December 2023, and thanks to her injury, she has had to take a different role that barely covers her rent.
She was also reportedly unable to afford a good quality wheelchair to help her function, so set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost.
Milda, who lives in York, North Yorkshire, said: “It’s gutting.
“With my ankle now, half of my nursing career is over. I can’t work on the wards with this.
“I worked so hard for so many years. I only started working as a nurse in December and I did this in January.
“It’s my life. It’s my whole livelihood. I’ve worked in healthcare for four years and I’m always on my feet.
“My whole life’s changed overnight. My whole life as I know it is completely different now.”
The sports enthusiast revealed she wanted to try a new activity and had only been bouldering – a kind of climbing without ropes and harnesses – twice before her accident.
“I’d heard of a lot of broken ankles but not to this extent,” Milda said.
“I was still quite new so I was trying some of the climbs before I fell from just below the top of the wall and shattered my ankle.
“I’d got one hand to the top of the climb but I wasn’t confident in finishing it so I was coming back down.
“My favourite part was climbing up and then falling to the mat. It wasn’t like I just fell over, it was like a controlled fall I suppose.
“But when I landed, I knew something wasn’t right.”
It’s not one clean break, it’s just absolutely shattered, like dust
Milda Ambra
She said she rolled onto her back, looked down at her feet and noticed her ankle “was at a right angle”.
“My friend took my shoe off and we were joking,” Milda added.
“I didn’t cry, I wanted to get a picture of my foot, but then one of the workers called an ambulance, which got there in about 10 minutes.
“I knew it was either broken or dislocated.”
After being rushed to A&E, the graduate discovered she had a subtalar dislocation – a rare form of ankle injury – along with severe breaks, which required surgery.
Milda said: “[Doctors] tried to fix it but they couldn’t pull it back into place. They had to knock me out to be able to do it.
“They were worried about me possibly losing my foot because there was no blood flow. I was still in a lot of shock.
“Once they pulled it and put a cast on it, it didn’t hurt.
“It wasn’t until the next night that the pain set in and I had loads of complications with it.”
The nurse said she knew it was serious, but didn’t realise quite how serious until she saw her CT scan results.
“It just looked shattered; it was just dust,” Milda said. “It’s not one clean break, it’s just absolutely shattered.
“I’ve broken the talus, which is the ankle joint bone that joins your foot to your heel to your leg and takes all of your body weight.”
The masters student said she remained in hospital until her surgery on February 9, but still managed to attend her graduation ceremony two days before.
“I went on a lot of painkillers, on crutches, but I was committed to going,” she said.
“I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing. The doctors were really hesitant to let me go with the state my ankle was in.
“But I’m so glad I went after all those years. I was the only mental health nurse that did a masters, and I didn’t do a four-year degree for nothing.”
After physiotherapy to relearn to walk, Milda says she took her first steps without a boot or crutches on May 5.
But her injury deteriorated and the pain “escalated” so much that in June, her surgeon suggested amputation, which she hopes will happen by December.
“I kept doing my physio but the pain kept getting worse and worse. It just escalated,” Milda said.
“I was still walking with two crutches. I did try and go down to one but the pain was intolerable.
“I couldn’t sleep and I was throwing up from it.
“It was a relief when the surgeon mentioned amputation. I’d already been thinking about it and when the pain got worse, I thought, ‘I’d rather just get it off’.
“I can’t work [in the role I want to], I can’t play netball, I can’t afford to pay my rent. It’s having a massive impact.
“Honestly, it was a relief when he said that. I’ve come to terms with it. I just want to be able to walk again.
“I’m just waiting on my next review to rule out that the pain is being caused by soft tissue damage.”
The children’s eating disorder nurse revealed her disability makes working full-time tough and she initially bought herself a cheap wheelchair for the days she couldn’t use crutches.
However, Milda’s fundraiser allowed her to order a more expensive £3,000 chair, which she hopes will give her some extra “freedom” until her amputation.
Milda, who still works full-time, said: “It’s terrible, but I try to make the best of it.
“Being a nurse isn’t the best income. I was relying on weekend shifts at the hospital but now I can’t walk so I can’t do that so I can’t afford my rent.
“I can’t wait for the new chair and have that freedom.”
Despite the healthcare worker’s injury, Milda says she doesn’t regret trying bouldering as it was a “complete freak accident”.
“My life isn’t over, it’s just changing,” she said.
“I don’t regret it. It was a complete freak accident and I don’t think anyone did anything wrong.
“There’s nothing I would change, I probably still would’ve gone. It’s just so unfortunate.”
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Ollie Rooke, marketing manager at London Climbing Centres, said bouldering provides a full body workout and helps improve muscle tone, dynamic movement, agility, flexibility and balance.
It also provides huge mental health benefits too, potentially reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, he said.
Ollie said: “Climbing exercises major and minor muscles and tendons, from your feet all the way to, quite literally, the tips of your fingers.
“It’s not just a physical workout though, part of the challenge in climbing is working out the solution required to reach the top of the route in front of you.
“That’s why they’re commonly called ‘problems’, because each one requires a solution.
“That means climbing offers a unique blend of physical and mental challenge, which encourages mindfulness and has a noticeable positive effect on mental health.”
