Parks faces anxious wait for frostbite to heal

29th May 2011

After the elation of summiting Mount Everest on Wednesday and ticking off the 7^th leg of his 9 leg record-breaking challenge, former Wales flanker turned mountaineer Richard Parks was shell shocked on Friday when he arrived back in base camp to discover he had frostbite in his big right toe putting his whole world first challenge in jeopardy.

Richard was flown by helicopter off Everest base camp yesterday to Kathmandu to return to sea level to allow his body to get the oxygen it needs and return the blood flow fully to his toe.  He was picked up by ambulance from the airport and taken to the The Nepal International Clinic and Travel and Mountain Medicine Centre. 

Pictures of Richard’s toe had already been emailed to Consultant General and Vascular Surgeon Prof. Chris Imray and Dr. David Hillebrandt, medical advisor to Jagged Globe (737 Challenge expedition and logistical partner).  They had diagnosed Richard’s injury back in the UK.  David Hillebrandt stated; “In terms of facts it appears that Richard Parks has Grade 1 or Grade 2 frostbite to the great toe with possibly some very mild damage to the index toe.  As a general rule the treatment of frostbite in the acute phase is thawing once the person is safe and then efforts to prevent infection and to let nature take its course over several weeks or months”.

Doctors at the NIC clinic in Kathmandu confirmed the Jagged Globe specialist’s diagnosis.

Richard stated; “Its a grade 1-2 frostbite which at first glance seems as if it will heal but with time!  And not to re-expose it to high altitude or cold!!!  I'm now hoping that the Jagged Globe team back in Sheffield can change my flight home, so I can get my toe on the road to recovery asap and hopefully in time for Denali”.

The clock was already ticking on Richard’s 7-month race to climb the 7 highest summits of the world and venture the last degree to the North and South Poles.  Today marks the 169^th day of the challenge with 43 days remaining of the 7 months.

With 7 out of the 9 legs complete and all 3 poles conquered, Richard has just 2 mountains left to climb to make history; Denali in Alaska (also known as Mount McKinley) and Elbrus in Russia.  He now faces an anxious wait, hoping the toe will recover quickly enough for him to attempt Denali before the season on the Alaskan mountain ends and knowing a gamble could risk not only his toe, but also his whole foot. 

David Hillebrandt added; “Normally somebody with this degree of damage would be expected to keep their toe in the long term but may have later susceptibility to future cold injury and possibly long term nerve damage with odd toe sensations.  This assumes the person has conservative treatment with simple dressings and time to heal.  Time is the great healer.  The greatest risk to a mildly frostbitten digit is from further damage once it has thawed (which this now has) and before it has fully healed.  The doctor in me has to advise him to rest until healed, which could be a couple of months but every bit of rest is potentially beneficial.  The climber in me sympathises with a desire to keep climbing and go on to Denali”.

In Richard’s mind, there is no question as to whether his epic world challenge will continue, he added; “I’m over the shock now, I’ve had the chance to feel sorry for myself and I can’t now.  Quite simply I am following to the letter everything I have been told to do to protect my toe and give it the best chance to heal and that’s all I am focusing on.  At the moment it’s a race against time.  In normal circumstances I would have every chance of it healing and keeping my toe, but that’s with rest from anything from 3 weeks to 3 months.  I haven’t got that, so my focus it to do everything I can to give myself the best opportunity to finish the challenge”.

He was also steadfast that his current systems on the mountain were correct and will not change his equipment or his systems; “I had been going over my systems and processes for summit day in my head over and over again.  I didn’t make mistakes on the mountain, every day I was diligently drying my socks and my boots.  It also has nothing to do with my boots.  Before I was lucky enough to be supported by the Mountain Boot Company and Scarpa, I was buying Scarpa boots, they are the comfiest boots and the best in the world”.

He added; “I’ve been on my feet for over 5 months and I have not had one blister.  The only 2 things that were different on summit day, which I can attribute my frostbite to, was that I had 2 brand new pairs of socks.  I slightly changed my sock system that day and went with a little bit of a thicker sock.  This took up more volume of the boot slightly which meant less air circulation in the boot around the foot and possibly might have restricted circulation in my big toe, but then there’s the hypoxic effect of being around and above 8000 metres for 3 days.  That length of time contributed to it, your body is simply not designed to stay that high for that long.  I don’t feel I made a mistake, however I could have done things differently.  I have to say I love my Scarpa boots, I summited Denali in temperatures of -45c in them last year without any cold injury, they are still the best boots for my feet and I won’t be changing things at all should I get to Denali”.

It’s not the first time Parks has been through toe trauma either.  In his rugby playing days he would lose about 4 big toenails a season after being trodden on.  He also broke the same right toe in France whilst playing for Perpignan, which could have also attributed to a weakness in the toe in such severe conditions.

Speaking from his hotel room in Kathmandu, finally Richard added; “I thought the thicker air of Kathmandu would give me more energy, but instead I'm double shattered!  My toe is starting to really swell in size now as the fluid begins to flow back through the micro capillaries that have been burst by the freezing.  I'm expecting it to become very painful, but not yet.  Now it's another lonely couple of days resting in my hotel room and letting the last few amazing weeks sink in”.

Richard needs your help right now to raise as much funds as possible in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.  1 in 3 of us will be affected by cancer at some point in our lives, please dig deep and help Richard raise £1 million pounds and help change the lives of people affected by cancer.