Article from Dumfries Courier, Friday 3 January 2003.

Hazel's back on the road ...

A new year and a newly converted ambulance for well-known Dumfriesshire chiropodist Hazel Pettigrew. When the mobile foot expert was told by doctors in October that she needed a fifth hip replacement, she vowed it would not stop her working. And just a few months on she is back on her feet and back with her mobile ambulance. As well as sheer determination, Hazel owes her speedy return to work to Dumfries mechanic Craig Gracie.

Her manual ambulance was too heavy for her to manage after the operation but she could not afford to get a new one and moving into premises or taking on a driver also proved unfeasible. Inquiries about converting it looked bleak until she came across the man who was to be her knight in shining armour. Craig and his team promised Hazel while she was in hospital for her operation, they would tackle her ambulance and turn it into an automatic. So, while the former Dumfries Royal Infirmary nurse convalesced at home with her new hip, the vehicle was also getting new parts.

They are both now in first class working order and back seeing patients in Annan, Moffat, Dumfries and Thornhill on a weekly basis. Hazel said: "This enables me to keep working and I am very grateful to Craig for helping me stay independent."

Thanks to Dumfriesshire Newspapers for permission to reproduce this article.
Photographs courtesy of Angus McDougal.