Sian Green-Lord, a 33 year old full-time model and amputee, has always been active. As a young girl, Sian went to dance classes and she even did dancing gigs. She walked everywhere, went to the gym and walked on stilts.

Then 9 years ago, on a trip to New York City with her friend, a taxi driver hit Sian in a fit of road rage when he attempted to ram a local cyclist. Her left leg was severed then and there.

“I spent 6 weeks in NYC undergoing 4 different surgeries on my leg so I was able to wear a prosthetic leg.”

When Sian returned to the UK, she was on a waiting list at the NHS clinic. She lost her leg in August and she was due to get a prosthetic the following February. Luckily for Sian, she was funded for private care by a person from America, so she was able to go down the private route.

“But I know that for a lot of people that’s obviously not the case. It’s a waiting game until you get your prosthetic leg.”

Sian’s experience with the NHS and prosthetic costs compelled her to start her foundation in 2015. Initially there wasn’t a clear-cut plan for the foundation. She just wanted to help as many people as possible.

“Something just didn’t sit right with me that there were so many people out there going through the same thing, so I had the idea to start the foundation to support people along the way. At first to offer part-private funding to pay for private care.”

But as Sian learned, a majority of amputees are already insured, which enables them to get the private care they need. Instead she chose to support amputees on a one-on-one basis, which is what she has been doing throughout the years. But all of that changed at the beginning of this year.

“I was thinking, I’m getting so many messages from people about my Levitate blade, why not then start using the funding from my foundation to now fund the blades for people to get back into sports. To get back to what they love.”