Life Changing
Triumph for a medical guinea pig
Published: 3 June 2026 at 06:00 Europe/London
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Episode notes
Laurie Peake loved the outdoors, provided it involved speed. She had discovered a passion for skiing in Canada, and back home in England she loved water-skiing, dancing and motorbiking. That is, until a serious motorbike crash on a wintry day in the 1980s changed everything.
Rushed to hospital, it looked as if Laurie would lose her lower leg. But a pioneering orthopaedic team thought otherwise, maintaining there was still hope. In a long battle which involved a technique only ever tried behind the iron curtain, they fought against the odds to save her leg.
Laurie tells Dr Sian Williams how, during the process, she discovered a passion for art and art history – and reveals whether the experimental Ilizarov technique really worked.
Producer: Tom Alban
