A SOLICITOR from a Chester legal firm, who has just returned to work after having her leg amputated, has pledged to use her experience to help her clients.
Rachael Vasner, 44, a partner in the clinical negligence department with Chester and Wrexham-based Walker Smith Way solicitors, has returned to work after the amputation of her left leg following a serious infection.
Rachael, who has won several high profile cases including £5m for a client brain damaged at birth, believes her own experiences will benefit her clients.
She said: “I will be able to recommend the best sources of help and support to my clients based on my own experience of having a leg amputated.
“Through work, I’ve already helped people who have lost limbs but I now have a better understanding of medical procedures and can assess the needs of people wanting to pursue a case of clinical negligence.”
“Having undergone an amputation, I can also empathise with its psychological impact.”
Rachael, from Pwllglas, near Ruthin, was in and out of Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Gobowen, throughout last year.
A mother to two teenage boys, she has been a solicitor with Walker Smith Way since 2004 and started specialising in clinical negligence after completing her legal training in London.
After being encouraged to name her stump as a practical method of coming to terms with the loss she named it Zebedee.
“I like the idea of bouncing around on a spring, like the character in The Magic Roundabout,” she said.
“No-one ever wants to undergo amputation but it was necessary and I am going to make the best of it.”
