KIT
BACK TO WORK
UrgoStart wound dressing got Tim Newman back to the office,
and back in the great outdoors with his dog.
T
im Newman was
diagnosed with Type 1
Diabetes on his 14th
birthday. In the last ten
years, the 49-year-old,
who is a company director and business
development manager based in Essex,
has had several complications as a result
of his condition, including diabetes related
foot ulcers (DFU). He has had forms of
treatment, but none has had as positive
an impact as UrgoStart.
Newman's first DFU developed in
2011. Since then he has had five more.
He has been told that these have been
caused by wearing poorly fitting 'off the
shelf' shoes, blisters from new shoes
and, the most recent, from scuffing the
underside of his left foot on a volcanic
rock in the sea in Lanzarote.
In 2012, after his uncle was diagnosed
with cancer, Tim signed up to do a 10k
run to raise money for Cancer Research
and raised over £3,000 for the charity.
But while training, he further damaged
the two outside toes on his right foot,
which brought about osteomyelitis, an
infection that attacks the bone from the
inside out, systematically destroying the
bone structure. Two years later, due to the
damage caused, his fourth toe had to be
amputated.
"Having a DFU affects everything,
says Newman. "You can't shower without
wearing a waterproof boot on your foot.
You often have to wear an air-boot to
offload pressure on the affected area.
Finding well-structured and perfectly
fitting 'off the shelf' footwear is generally
impossible."
T1D Tim Newman
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UrgoStart started
His most recent - and largest DFU - also
led to Newman experiencing life-threatening
sepsis and pneumonia in October 2017.
Once the infection had cleared, his foot
ulcer began to be treated with UrgoStart.
"The staff at the clinic told me about a new
treatment that was still in the developmental
stages and said they wanted to try using
it on me. The recovery was rapid, and
improvements happened quickly. First the
appearance of the ulcer changed, then
the skin started to look healthy around
the wound, and there was a better blood
supply. The size reduced really quickly, first
by 1mm a week, then 2mm a week, going
from a deep hole to nothing at all."
This has obviously made a massive
difference to Newman's quality of life.
He says, "With UrgoStart, no additional
padding was required and he could wear
normal shoes. The dressings didn't need
changing as frequently, yet the results
were more noticeable. I could get back to
work and move around."
Keeping fit and healthy is important
to Newman, and he can now get back
to being active, particularly by walking
his husky dog, Sika. As well as having a
positive personal impact, Newman says,
"There was an obvious time and cost
saving for the NHS. I had fewer hospital
and community podiatry appointments.
UrgoStart would appear to be a 'no
brainer' based on my experience when it
came to rapid recovery and therefore cost
effectiveness. It's made a huge difference
to my life, and I certainly hope it will be the
same for many others now that this great
product is available."