It’s not Debbie McQuat’s limb differences that make her inspiring – it’s her drive, love of a good challenge, commitment to children with similar differences and the sheer force of her personality.
On 11 March 2023, I became the first female with a limb difference to climb Mount Teide in Tenerife and it was phenomenal. It took 13 hours – not that it’s about the time, it’s about getting out and doing it!
“I was born without my arm and leg, following complications in the womb. When I was four I had to get four toes removed and then, in 1999, I had 4 inches removed from my leg stump, so I’m classed as having a limb difference and as an amputee.
“I started going out in the hills just a couple of years ago. I had joined other amputee groups but it was just coffee mornings and wasn’t stimulating enough for me. I needed something tough.
“One day, on Facebook, I noticed a post by Ben Lovell, who lost his right leg as a result of a blood clot. Ben organises Amp Camp Kids, a charity that runs holidays for children with limb difference. He was climbing mountains to raise money and coming to Scotland. The one thing I have felt uncomfortable with is going on holiday – you’re more exposed; probably the only person in the hotel with a limb difference. I didn’t even know which hill he was climbing but I knew I wanted to do it.
“It turned out my first ever mountain, in August 2021, was Ben Nevis. And it was brutal. It took 14 hours and I cried for days afterwards because of the pain. Nine years ago, I broke my real ankle in five places and it’s now held together with pins and plates, so it doesn’t bend as much and can get very painful. But I thought, ‘My God, I loved that’. Getting on that mountain, you forget everything. It’s a different world.
“Next, we climbed two Munros in winter – Ben More and Stob Binnein – to get a wee boy a prosthetic limb. At the top all you could see was a sea of white, snowy mountains. It was breathtaking, like nothing I’d seen before in my life.
“I use a crutch, a Levitate running blade and a prosthetic foot when I’m climbing. I go up in my blade but this can be slippery on the way down, so I pack a screwdriver then, at the top, take the blade off and put the foot on. Prosthetics are designed for walking on flat ground, so when you walk on different gradients the pressure points on your stump change, which can result in sores and blisters. I put loads of plasters on and that, with a crutch, seems to help. I tried using a walking pole but it doesn’t give me enough stability. I find I can put more weight on a crutch which then takes pressure off my leg. It hurts my hand but, d’you know what? It’s worth it.
“We have to stop a lot – stumps get wet, you’ve got to put Vaseline
