The Hip Resurfacing gave me back my life.
As I said after ten weeks I could do everything but run
properly. To be able to run properly took a year. Darren
Fern the surgeon, who was brilliant, told me that it was
because the muscles needed to learn how to trigger again.
I have played a game of beach football, rowed sailed
dinghies and used the small 11 foot inflatable off the
lifeboat. I have not experienced any problems with the hip,
nor have I had a moment of pain from it since the operation.
Two summers ago Tricia and I toured Southern Ireland on the
motor-bike. We had a fantastic time, what lovely people.
Life has been good to me. I have been able to fully serve my
time with the RNLI with no restrictions; the hip has stood
up to some very bad weather. I’ve had no reason to doubt it.
It’s very resilient and doesn’t get sea sick!
Falmouth Lifeboat Station had the honour of Her Majesty the
Queen naming our new lifeboat, “The Richard Cox Scott” at
the start of her Golden Jubilee tour.
I was then coxswain of the boat taking the
Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh for a trip around
Falmouth Harbour.
The award of the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list
has honoured me. I finally finished with the RNLI on the
18th of July this year, after 28 ½ years service.
There is no doubt that the final 4 ½ years
wouldn’t have been possible without the Hip Resurfacing.
Tricia and I believe that I have been extremely lucky to get
this chance. I owe huge vote of thanks to Corin and Darren
Fern. We look forward to a long and active retirement. Thank
you.
Alan Barnes MBE - July 2005
When Alan Barnes leaves home on a Sunday
morning to go down to the quay in his hometown of Falmouth,
it’s no ordinary boat he is getting ready to take out in the
waters around the coast of Cornwall. Alan is Coxswain of the
Falmouth Lifeboat, the largest boat in the Royal National
Lifeboat Institute’s fleet of offshore rescue vessels.
Although Alan’s full-time job is as Media
Resources Manager at the Higher Education Centre in
Falmouth, he is on-call 24 hours a day, and can expect his
pager to call him out on a “shout” about 25 times a year.
Day and night, and sometimes in the most appalling weather
conditions, the RNLI crews risk their own lives to assist
vessels in trouble around the UK coastline.
Alan has been involved with the Falmouth Lifeboat for 26
years, and was elected Coxswain by the other members of the
crew in 1991.
Since the Falmouth Lifeboat Station was established in 1867,
lifeboat technology has changed greatly, and today Alan is
in charge of the Richard Cox Scott, a 17 metre Severn Class
all-weather lifeboat, which bristles with advanced location
and rescue equipment. Ten medals for gallantry have been
awarded to Falmouth crew over the years, and in 1995 Alan
himself received the Thanks of the Institute for his “high
standard of seamanship and leadership” when rescuing the
crew of two from a catamaran which was dismasted and had a
fouled propeller in gale force winds and high breaking seas.
His attitude to those who need to call on the services of
the RNLI is typically philosophical. “No-one ever goes out
meaning to get into difficulty. I never judge anyone – we’re
just there if we are needed. I feel very privileged to have
had 26 fantastic years with the RNLI, serving the public and
those working on the sea” is the way Alan sums up his
passion for the sea, and for helping those in trouble.
But in recent years, it looked like Alan would have to give
up his position with the RNLI, after arthritis of his hip
proved more and more debilitating, to the point where he
could no longer safely carry out his duties.
“For me things got progressively worse over a two-year
period. First it was pain when I tried to get out of bed in
the mornings. This was followed by pain towards the end of a
working day. As time went on this got progressively worse.
After two years I had an X-ray, which led to the appointment
with Mr Fern”.
One of Alan’s other passions in life is riding his 1000cc
BMW motorcycle. “By now it was a major job to get off my
motorbike, followed by the agony of getting the hip to
“click” back in place so I could walk. I did lots of
swimming, as it seemed the only thing that kept the joint at
all loose. Just before the appointment for the operation I
knew that it was hospital or give up the bike, and worse
still the Lifeboat. I was becoming unsafe onboard in heavy
weather and I wasn’t prepared to allow myself to become a
liability to my crew”.
Alan was eventually referred to an Orthopaedic Surgeon at
the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro. “He told me that I
needed a hip replacement, but that I would not be able to go
back to the lifeboat” recalls Alan. “I replied that surely
in this day and age, medicine and science must be able to
offer me something better than that!”
His surgeon went on to explain that a relatively new type of
hip replacement, developed by a British company in
Cirencester, would enable Alan to get back to near-normal
activities, and certainly back to the lifeboat, but that it
was not approved for use in the local Trust at the time. “I
don’t care” responded Alan, “if it can get me back on the
boats, that’s what I want”.
“The limited range of movement and high dislocation rate of
conventional hips caused concern” explains Consultant
Orthopaedic Surgeon Mr E D Fern. “Alan would inevitably get
into situations where his hip replacement was in danger of
dislocating, or worse, fracturing around the stem if he fell
in rough seas in wet conditions. Almost by definition, he
was unlikely to be at sea unless the weather was foul! I
felt that he would be a danger to himself and others if he
slipped at a critical moment and ended up needing urgent
medical attention himself. The immense stability of the Hip
Resurfacing would allow him to forget that he had an
artificial joint, and be able to concentrate fully on his
own safety, and that of his crew.”
So a couple of months later, as a result of sheer
determination by patient and surgeon, Alan was admitted to
the Royal Cornwall Hospital for his Hip Resurfacing
operation.
“The first day after the operation, I was up on crutches,
but feeling a bit sore and bruised” recalls Alan. “On day
two I walked along the corridor, and went home five days
after the operation. I think from then on, my recovery was
down to sheer determination to get back to normal as quickly
as possible, and that was the key. I only used two crutches
the first time I walked - it was actually easier with one.
Ice packs helped reduce the bruising and swelling. I did a
lot of exercising specifically to get my muscles working
again, including doing leg lifts lying on my side every day,
and well remember on the fourth day home being able to lift
my leg off the bed and move it in and out for the first
time”.
“I believed that after the operation what I achieved would
be down to me, and that I had to avoid as much muscle
wastage as possible. I did push myself and yes it hurt but
it was well worth it”.
“Two weeks after coming home I was able to drive the car.
The staples were out of the wound and the swelling and
bruising nearly gone. Five weeks on I persuaded the local
hospital to give me a walking stick and ditched the
crutches, great. After six weeks I moved a lifeboat out of a
boatyard after repair, fantastic even though it was only a
half a mile trip. Then I was lucky enough to have a trip up
river on a local tug. The ladder down the jetty was the hard
bit. But if you think and plan you get around the obstacles
sensibly. Both these were trips on flat river water. After
eight weeks I started swimming again”.
“ My goaI was to regain the strength to get on and off the
motorbike. I knew that if I could do that I would be ready
to go back onboard the lifeboat”. He decided that his
personal criterion for getting back to work would be that if
he could ride his bike to Poole and back without any pain,
he would be ready for work again. “I did the 200 mile ride
nine weeks after the operation, and went back to sea the
following week”.
“We then went to Antibes in the South of France for a week.
I walked right around the Monte Carlo grand Prix Circuit. I
came back and presented myself for the RNLI medical I needed
to go back to sea – fantastic, no problems. Two nights later
the first Lifeboat call. It was great to be back!
“I could do squats, stand on either leg, even trot. What
took almost a year was to be able to run properly. A year on
though I did play a game of beach football, and scored a
goal!
Alan’s wife Trish explains the impact that his arthritis had
on both of them. “We had planned to travel round Europe on
the bike when Alan retires, but that plan had disappeared
because of the arthritis. Not only was he in constant pain,
but also the disease had taken away some of the most
important things in his life – the lifeboat and his
motorbike. The difference is absolutely amazing. He’s back
to normal and enjoying life just as before. It’s made so
much difference to me as well. And we are again planning our
trip around Europe on the BMW in a few years time”.
“Life is great, well worth everything I went through” is the
way Alan sums it up. “ Tricia and I enjoy country walks,
which we can now do again. This summer we’re going to
Southern Ireland on the motorbike. I recently had the great
honour of Coxswaining the new Falmouth Lifeboat with HM the
Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on board when she named the
boat at the start of the Jubilee tour”.
“I can’t thank Corin, Mr Fern and the staff of Treliske
Hospital enough - you gave me back my life”.
