Carole Darby is a retired credit controller from Northern Ireland who has spent the last 46 years caring for her daughter Adele. So when joint pain started to slow Carole down she needed a solution, and fast. This is Carole’s story…
For 40 years I was a credit controller, so my job was to chase accounts and ensure all legal documents were in order. It was mainly deskbound but I would also have to drive out to customers to ensure they had everything they needed. I retired 10 years ago but only from my paid job. I’ve been a carer my whole life.
When I was a teenager I looked after my grandparents a lot. Then, because I’m an only child and my parents had me quite late, I had to take care of them. They sadly passed within 5 months of each other, first my father in 1993 and then mum in 1994. And now I take care of my daughter who is 46, has learning disabilities and a very rare syndrome of which only about 200 people in the world have. So I’ve taken care of her all her life. Through most of that I had my husband supporting me, he was ex-army so was always happy to help out a lot.
Unfortunately in 2016 he had major heart surgery for a new aorta. He was never quite able to get back to full fitness after that. One holiday in Majorca in 2022 he was taken very ill and they diagnosed him with all sorts of health conditions including a blood disorder that we’d never known about. From then on it was a steady decline for him. So I was having to care for him and my daughter and then sadly he passed away in October 2024. We’d been married for 52 years, a lifetime really, I still miss him dearly.
A few years ago I started having problems with my knee. I was on holiday and I suddenly found I couldn’t put my foot on the ground without being in great pain. But I had so much going on at the time I just soldiered on. Eventually, two years ago it got unbearable so I went to the doctor and gave me a tube of Voltarol. I tried it but I can’t take anti-inflammatories, they really upset my stomach.
The knee kept getting worse, so bad I could hear it cracking. My surgery has a walking group and we go every Tuesday morning. One of the social workers who takes the walking group said I should see a physio for the pain I was in. There were times I would bend down and I would worry I would be down there forever because my knee simply wouldn’t straighten, I had to use a stick to get back up. I eventually got to the physio and he took one look at how little I could move the knee and asked what X-rays had shown. I said, “it’s never been X-rayed!”
He arranged an X-ray and it was confirmed I had all sorts of issues with the knee including severe osteoarthritis. I was told I needed surgery but the waiting list was two years. I knew that surgery would come with a lot of rehab, which would put a lot of strain on me and my daughter to take care of us both. I have to be independent. I don’t have time to stop, so we keep going. It’s the only way. I found I’d lost faith in using the knee, going up a step made me nervous for fear my knee wasn’t going to support me. But I was determined this wasn’t going to take me down. I had too much to do, it wasn’t going to define me.
Then I remembered years ago I had a bad back, which later turned out to be a degenerative disc, and I’d tried FlexiSEQ because I’d seen it advertised. Back then when I was using it I was using it incorrectly, I was rubbing it in. I still had some in the house so I thought, well what have I got to lose by trying that on the knee? So I read how to use it properly on the knee and I tell you, I couldn’t believe how much it made a difference. I’ve got some on while I speak to you, it’s drying as I talk!
The fact FlexiSEQ is drug-free is so reassuring. I know how my bad knee can impact me, I know how much it can take off my life. But with FlexiSEQ, I’m able to use it. I can live the life I want to lead. And I don’t have to worry about the pain or the anti-inflammatory drugs upsetting my stomach because there isn’t any in FlexiSEQ. I can still take care of Adele, I can still take part in my Tuesday walking group and I can still walk my wee dog. For the past few years I’ve been doing a Relay For Life, I might not do as many miles as some of the group but I do my bit and keep walking. I’ve got confidence back in my knee. Honestly, I can’t put a price on FlexiSEQ, the way it’s helping me is priceless.
