A RETIRED GP who narrowly avoided having a foot amputated because of diabetes has issued a stark warning in the light of new figures.

As revealed in yesterday’s Oxford Mail, Public Health England statistics showed 124 people in Oxfordshire had diabetes-related amputations between 2010 and 2013.

This was an increase of four per cent on amputations carried out between 2007 and 2010.

Patricia White, from Moulsford, near Wallingford, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child.

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In 2007, after fracturing her left foot on holiday in Tobago, Dr White developed complications, including MRSA, and her foot failed to heal.

She walked for months with a shattered heel and a developing infection, but was completely oblivious as she had no feeling in her feet.

The 67-year-old said: “I couldn’t feel anything on my feet.

“Because you haven’t got sensation in your feet you’re not walking properly but don’t realise it.

“Once I went outside with no shoes on to turn off the garden hose and when I walked in I hit my foot on a grate, not knowing that I’d cut myself. There was blood all the way up the stairs.”

It was only during a routine foot examination at the Churchill hospital, in Headington, that doctors realised the extent of the damage to her heel – finding her left foot was 7C warmer than her right.

At a follow-up in the nearby Nuffield Orthapaedic Centre, doctors broke the news that she could face amputation.

Luckily, after wearing a foot brace for 18 months, Dr White recovered, but it served as a worrying reminder of the risks posed to diabetics.

Dr White added: “The thought of losing my foot was unbearable.

“I would say to all diabetes sufferers to get their feet checked.

“If you can’t go to a podiatrist, check them yourself for breaks or get a friend or partner to help.”

The number of people with diabetes in Oxforshire has increased by 43 per cent in 10 years.

There were 26,109 sufferers in the county recorded between 2012 and 2013.

Dr Garry Tan, a consultant diabetologist at the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism said: “When a diabetes sufferer has numbness in their feet they do not know when they’ve stepped on something or damaged their feet. This can lead to severe problems or amputation if it is not caught early.”

For his work treating bus driver William Brown’s diabetes, Dr Tan won an Oxford Mail Hospital Heroes award

The feeling goes

Diabetes can reduce blood supply to the feet and cause people to lose feeling in them.

This means that people with the condition might not notice if their foot is injured or sore.

Any injuries to the foot will not heal well and diabetics are 15 times more likely to have a foor amputated due to gangrene.

High glucose levels in the blood associated with diabetes can also damage blood vessels, affecting circulation to the feet and legs.

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