Gemma Wharton

Hi, I'm a 23 year old Field Hockey player. I've just recently (4 months ago) had a compartment release surgery on both my calves. I battled with Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome since i was 15 and finally got it sorted this year. It was triggered by excessive exercise at a school sports carnival, i couldn't walk the day after and my legs were never the same. We tried everything that was accessible to us, living in a country town made it hard. I learnt how to just live with the fact that this is my life now.
when i was 20 and living in the city, i had the option to look into my issues more thoroughly, i had not yet been diagnosed but we were fairly certain it was CECS.
I went to multiple doctors, physio, podiatrists and none could pin point what exactly was wrong.
Then my mum fell ill again and i had to move back to my home country town to care for her. This is when i saw another doctor who referred me to see a surgeon for my arteries. He wanted to do surgery but he couldn't even tell me that what he thought i had with confidence. I decided to not see him anymore and just gave up.
My mum then fell much more sick and passed away in September of 2019. My life had no purpose, my mum who was my best friend was gone, exercising was painful as well as just walking around.
Then a few months down the track after i decided to start putting myself first i thought. "F it, I'm going to sort this out". even though i had spent thousands already on trying to figure out, i went and saw another doctor, got another pressure testing and he told me straight up i needed surgery. 2 weeks later i saw a surgeon and 2 weeks later i had all 4 compartments released in both legs.
4 months down the track and i am getting minimal swelling, my right lower leg is half numb but the numbness is wearing off.
i am exercising every day. i ran 7KM when pre-surgery doing 1km was very painful. I'm now this new person, i can run, i can work on myself, I've never felt so good about myself and although i have so much more to go i can look down at the 4 scars on my legs and know that it was the best decision I've ever made. I'm not afraid of my scars, i flaunt them. They remind me that i CAN do it.