In 2011, Fay Keegan from Taree made the life-changing decision to have one of her lower legs amputated.

“I’ve been an amputee since 2012… which basically resulted from an accident when I was 11.”

In 1968, the school sports captain who excelled in swimming and athletics and loved hiking, fell from a moving train, her foot crushed. 

Doctors repaired it as much as they could but she was told she might not be able to walk again. She was determined to prove them wrong.

At 15, an orthopaedic surgeon recommended she have her foot amputated due to her level of disability, chronic infections and ulceration. “I very stubbornly refused.”

Fay spent up to two years in hospital during high school and became isolated as she did a lot of her schooling at home and couldn’t do social activities like dancing, going to concerts and walking to school from the train.

She married husband David and they raised the two children in the Manning. In 2007 she bought herself a wheelchair so she could do more things with her family.

After an unrelenting infection in 2011 she made the decision to have her lower leg removed. 

”My life has revolutionised. I’m just so much more active.” She has reinvigorated her love for hiking, which she hadn’t been able to do since her accident.

Fay teamed up with Limbs 4 Life to raise awareness of World Diabetes Day on November 14 and promote Toe Jam, which was launched on the day.

The jam recipe was created by Masterchef winner Emma Dean. You can find the recipe here: care4feet.org.au/toejam.

WATCH: Toe Jam video

Limbs 4 Life was established by Melissa Noonan in 2004 to allow people going through the process of amputation to speak with others who know the territory and can give an inside view of what to expect, how to cope and show that life doesn’t end. “It can feel like your life is ending. It took me 43 years to adjust,” she said.

Fay used the service herself in 2011 and said it was the “single most helpful” thing she could have done. She now works for the organisation as the peer support program manager and commutes from Taree to Sydney for work.

People lose limbs through a range of circumstances, sometimes it is elective and sometimes it is not. “It can throw people into a real feeling of grief and loss and changes their whole identity.”

Australia has the second highest rate of diabetes amputations in the developed world and 1.7 million people in the country have diabetes but only 1.2 million have been diagnosed.

Eighty-five amputations happen in Australia each week in Australia as a direct result of diabetes – 85 per cent of which are preventable with the correct foot care.

Fay is seeking to publish a book about her life and experiences titled ‘All Stations to Waterfall’.