Milda Ambra, 24, was relieved when doctors suggested amputating her foot after she was left in agony following a falling accident
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Nurse Milda Ambra begs doctors to cut her leg off after ankle injury
A nurse who snapped her ankle while climbing has begged doctors to cut off her leg in the hopes of saving her career.
Milda Ambra, 24, had been bouldering – a fashionable form of climbing – with friends when she attempted a controlled fall on to a mat from a height of around ten-foot. She immediately knew she had hurt herself and saw her right ankle was at a right angle.
The mental health nurse was rushed to hospital where they found she had an extreme dislocation and break and required surgery, which was held two days after her graduation ceremony at the University of York. Since then, Milda claims the pain is “intolerable” and is awaiting a leg amputation between her knee and ankle.
Milda, from York, North Yorkshire, said: “I’d heard of a lot of broken ankles from bouldering but not to this extent. I was still quite new so I was trying some of the climbs before I fell and shattered my ankle.
“It was just from below the top of the wall. I’d just 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.
“When I landed I knew something wasn’t right at that point. I rolled onto my back. I looked down and my ankle was at a right angle. My friend took my shoe off and we were joking. I didn’t cry and was joking about it. I wanted to get a picture of my foot.
“The doctor let me have a look at the CT scan and that was when I knew how serious it was. It just looked shattered; it was just dust. It’s not one clean break, it’s just absolutely shattered.”
“I kept doing my physio but the pain kept getting worse and worse. It just escalated. I was still walking with the 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.
“June was the first time we discussed possible amputation. It was a relief when the surgeon mentioned it. I’d already been thinking about it. When I started going backwards where the pain got worse it was at that point I thought, ‘I’d rather just get it off’.
“It meant I can’t work, I can’t play netball, I can’t afford to pay my rent. It was really having a massive impact. Honestly, it was a relief when he said that.”
The nurse began working full-time in December 2023 and thanks to her injury has had to take a different role. Unable to afford a good quality wheelchair to help her function, Milda set up a GoFundMe page and plans to crutch, wheel and swim 168 kilometres across August and September to raise the funds.
Milda added: “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.”
Despite the healthcare worker’s injury, she admitted she doesn’t regret trying bouldering as it was a “freak accident.”
Milda added: “I don’t regret it. It was a complete freak accident. I don’t think anyone did anything wrong. I fell safely and I did everything right. It was a complete freak accident.
“There’s nothing I would change, I probably still would’ve gone. It’s just so unfortunate. The life you knew isn’t over, it’s just changing. I just want to be able to walk again.”