Peter, 41, from Haverigg, Cumbria used to work as a Manager at Sellafield, until one day he was involved in a road accident which injured his left leg. He did recover fully from the incident, but soon realised that the pain hadn’t eased. In fact, it wasn’t even planning to go away. That pain now encircles Peter and dictates his life. Seeing may be believing, but for Peter there was nothing noticeable that caused the pain in his now normal leg. His leg was functional; the doctors had even pronounced him fit. The hardest thing was convincing people that the pain did exist. They couldn’t figure why a healthy man with healthy limbs had so much pain in his leg. Peter would wake up at night screaming in pain. It go so bad that he couldn’t walk without a crutch; eventually he stopped going to work and had to stay indoors. But yet no one believed him.  | | Peter Chesher |
Eventually, there was one specialist who took his story, or pain rather, seriously. Peter discovered that he suffered from a syndrome called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Peter’s sympathetic nervous system, he said had not yet realised that his leg had recovered and was thus issuing pain to prevent him from walking. With the leg wasting away from lack of exercise, the pain just gets worse day by day. Peter came out of the clinic in tears. “At least, now my wife knew she could trust me.” RSD is a disease affecting 11,000 people in the country. There may be more cases though amongst undiagnosed and unsuspecting suffers. Peter Chesher now has a spinal implant fitted to fire electronic signals to override his body’s pain. It dims his pain, only to return later with a vengeance. And now the lack of government funds threatens the existence of the Pain Clinic at nearby Barrow. Plans to move the clinic forty miles away to Kendal are afoot, which means a long journey for chronic pain suffers. “I have to smile. I have to live for the sake of my young family. But there are days when I feel so down. I know remission will never happen in my case. So a cocktail of drugs will be my future.” says Peter. “And of course, there’s hope. One day, some technology may provide the miracle cure to liberate me.” | 
