Quadruple amputee 'starting to feel like me again'

A quadruple amputee has taken steps without the assistance of walking sticks for the first time after major surgery.

Lily McGarry, 25, from Jersey, went into septic shock after contracting meningitis B while studying medicine at Cardiff University in 2025.

She had to have all her limbs amputated to save her life and has been continuing her recovery in the island, including through free physiotherapy sessions, after moving back late last year.

"I'm just starting to feel like me again," she said. "Without this kind of support - I would be lost and isolated."

McGarry started physiotherapy training at Strive Academy in January to rebuild her strength and she is learning to walk again using prosthetic legs.

"I'm feeling so much stronger, I'm more flexible," she said.

"It felt like a daunting step to start coming here but now I feel very comfortable.

"Right now I'm trying to use my prosthetic legs and building up confidence in them because the gym is a really safe environment to try new things like try walking."

As she builds back confidence on her prosthetic legs, McGarry has started to think about what the future could hold.

"I'd love to get a job or go back to uni but I need to slow down because that's not really realistic yet unfortunately but that's OK," she said.

"I'm spending a lot of time with my friends and family and I'm trying to do some public health awareness so that given me some purpose."

Paula Volante, from Strive Academy, described her first meeting with McGarry as "really inspiring".

"She clearly has so much to offer both myself and the world as far as mentality goes," she said.

"Having been in hospital for quite a long time and being in a wheelchair afterwards, Lily didn't have much strength around the glutes and the core, which obviously very important for balance and standing.

"Lily does have a very brave face... so we have to look out for warning signs that she may be fatiguing.

"I think our hardest job is trying to hold her back rather than pushing her further."

McGarry nominated Strive Academy for the BBC Radio Jersey Make a Difference Awards for its support.

McGarry said she still had strong ties with friends in Wales after studying in Cardiff.

"I feel very lucky with the friends I have there and they still made me feel very included with whatever's happening in Wales," she said.

"We talk with the phone all the time, they come and visit and when I was in London I'd get the train to go and see them in Cardiff.

"My running club are constantly checking in with how I'm doing... at some point I'd like to go back there, but for now Jersey is the right place to be."

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