Amputee begs thieves to return his foot

Someone has stolen Russel Blank's foot and he is, to put it politely, "pissed off" about it. Photo / Peter de Graaf, RNZ

By Peter de Graaf of RNZ

Someone has stolen Russel Blank’s foot and he is, to put it mildly, “a bit pissed off about it”.

The Far North man has relied on a prosthetic limb to get around since losing part of his right leg in a workplace accident more than 40 years ago.

He sent his foot to the Artificial Limb Centre in Auckland for repairs, but it was stolen from his letterbox when the finished foot was couriered back.

Blank said the theft made no sense. The artificial foot was essential to him but “absolutely no use” to anyone else.

“I’m a bit pissed off about it, just quietly. I probably could get more colourful but I won’t. It pisses me off, simple as that.”

In the meantime, Blank — who lives in Whangaroa, about 40km north of Kerikeri — said he was making use of an old artificial leg.

The old leg was painful to use, so he made his own temporary replacement.

“I got a little creative with some spare parts I had lying around,” he said.

While his home-built prosthesis had restored some mobility, he was not sure how far he could push it, so his mobility remained limited.

“This one I’ve made works quite well, but I’m still learning to trust it, if you will, waiting to see if it holds up.”

Adding to the inconvenience, once his new foot was ready, he would have to drive to the limb centre to collect it — a round trip of 550km.

Blank said that was so the technicians could fit and adjust it properly, but he suspected they were also wary of trying to post it again in case it was stolen.

He originally sent his foot away for a retread — the grip on the bottom had worn out — and expected it to be couriered back in early April.

When it had not arrived by April 8, he called the limb centre and was told it had been delivered on April 5.

Russel Blank's prosthetic foot was stolen from this row of letterboxes in Whangaroa, in the Far North, so he has improvised and made his own. Photo / Peter de Graaf, RNZ

Blank said he had since been told of other letterbox thefts around the small harbourside town.

He implored the thieves — who had no use for his foot — to return it, either to his letterbox or a safe spot in town.

“It really is kind of inconvenient. It would be good if you could get a bit guilty and leave it somewhere where someone can find it. It’d be pretty good to have it back.”

Blank said he lost part of his leg when he was working in the Bahamas in 1983. He described the accident as a “high-speed unscheduled disassembly” of a high-pressure air compressor.

It took six hours to reach the nearest hospital, so he was lucky to survive.