Richard Ham Williams…about me
In 1995 I was diagnosed with a malignant bone tumour in my left leg, which was totally shit and meant undergoing a bad ass course of Chemotherapy and a spectacular surgery to remove the tumour and rebuild my leg….the guys and girls at UCLH were seriously top notch.
I was one lucky kid to have that on my doorstep, seriously, most anywhere else and I’d have at worst died or best lost my leg. That’s how world leading these guys were back then.
Efficient exercise and a well planned diet helped me recover my health and strength.
I learned the hard way just how important our health is to us and what can be achieved through exercise, determination and diet and most of all how important a support team is.
Along the way I have had more operations than I can remember now and with each post operative recovery I have learned, practised and applied new and better techniques to achieve strength and fitness. Which you can now benefit from…my rocky road is your smooth ride!
My goal is to share with you the strength, empowerment and freedom of health and fitness.
Exercise is part of my life, let me help you make it part of yours.
The Teenage Cancer Trust supported me throughout this period of my life and is Hams Fitness’ preferred Charity (www.TeenageCancerTrust.org).
I undertook a Charity Truck pull to raise funds…it was horrid! So painful and exhausting that I am not sure I had any idea what I was in for when I agreed to do it!
A little X-ray of my leg
Side on and bent to give you some perspective of what you are seeing.
That is my knee, tibia (shin bone) and fibula (next to shin bone) with the white area being the metal replacement for those parts.
The really interesting part for me is that all the muscles surrounding the knee such as the quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles all had to be reattached to metal as there is no bone left for them to merge in to.
Metal is not the ideal material to connect tendons to so there is much clamping and art work involved with no two surgeries being exactly alike or the same as pre surgery.
This means I have to be inventive in how I target what is left of those muscles during training.
Due to my constant work on my own body I have learned and continue to learn from experience and through the advancement of Science.
I spend much of my time outside the gym reading journals, studies and speaking with experts in the field of exercise science to further my knowledge.