Man tortured by 'suicide disease' watched as his leg was cut off to free him from years of pain

A man who endured years of excruciating pain, and four times was on the brink of taking his own life, watched his own leg being cut off to free him from the "suicide disease". Andrew Lawton was rushing to buy Valentine’s Day gifts back in 2019 when his knee buckled underneath him. It was the beginning of a nightmare which would change his life forever.

The slightest touch of his leg would result in severe bruising and ulcers; even a dressing to cover up a wound would cause the skin surrounding it to die. The 44-year-old, from Leigh, would rarely go outside, embarrassed by people seeing the sight of his open wounds that he was unable to cover up with trousers or even a blanket as they would leave him in horrific pain.

The father-of-one was even sacked from his job with a Manchester-based firm when his boss said he was too slow to walk down the stairs during a fire drill at the office. He subsequently won a discrimination claim and more than £30,000 compensation in 2022.

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Andrew was eventually diagnosed with CRPS - Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome - also know as the suicide disease. He told the Mirror it was only the thought of leaving his partner Amy and 16-year-old son Tyler that stopped him taking his own life on four occasions, as he battled with the pain that would be with him 24 hours a day.

IT manager Andrew said: "I was in extreme pain 24 hours a day for three and a half years. It felt like someone was giving me a Chinese burn, like your skin was being pulled in two different directions, it's that burn you feel all the time. I had deep bruising from my thigh to my foot and it just got progressively worse day by day, the bruising and the ulcers were like torture.

"CRPS is unusual so they had to test me