Amp Camp was created to provide a safe and secure haven for amputees. In addition to bringing like minded people together all under one roof for a week of rehabilitation, relaxation, fitness, wellness and to motivate them to their full capacity. As well as showing amputees that they are NOT disabled by showing them how ABLED they actually are.

Tenerife Retreat provides a 10 bedroom villa with 8 bathrooms and a heated hydrotherapy pool as the accommodation. The on site chef provides three fresh and healthy cooked meals per day with smoothies, snacks and drinks available throughout the day.

The concierge team are there to be on hand for all the guests ensuring they are well looked after from morning to night. Fitness is incorporated into the itinerary to promote ‘Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds’ and to show the clients that adding just the smallest amount of fitness to their daily routine will majorly benefit their journey into full recovery. As well as the fitness side of the itinerary, guests are treated to massages, aqua spas, boat trips, jet skis and lots more fun activities. Again, to highlight to amputees that they should never stop smiling and living their life to their full potential.

Below are examples of amputees that the charity, ATSGUK have sponsored to attend on the Amp Camp Tenerife Retreat.

Mr D H

From Lancashire – Previous Job – Engineer

Mr D H aged 40 before his amputation worked as a conveyor specialist who carried out servicing and breakdowns of industrial machinery in most of the big name delivery companies and had been employed as an engineer since leaving school.  He lost his left arm in a conveyor drive in an accident at work in February 2021 due to faulty machinery. When he woke up in hospital the surgeons explained that they had tried to save his left arm, but unfortunately the left arm had died. He stayed in hospital for 2 weeks because of the extent of the injury and the skin graft surgeries he had whilst admitted at hospital. Since the accident, he has admitted to struggling to come to terms with day to day living and was finding it difficult to cope with his path in life following his amputation. Being a husband and a father of  two, he wanted nothing more than to become the family man he always was, to be the provider for them and to give them all the best life he could. However, after the life changing amputation injury he saw no way out and sunk deep into depression and anxiety.

He said “I started to reach out on amputee groups on social media platforms and I met a guy called Steve who got me onto group zoom calls every Friday which helped for a while. However, I still felt I was worth nothing anymore and that the struggle I was living was how life was to be. I met a guy via online groups called Ben Lovell, who is also a volunteer of ATSGUK who saw my pain and struggle being a below the knee amputee himself. We talked on the phone and he invited me on a walk on the ‘Three Peaks’ walk in the Lake District. On the walk I got to meet lots of lovely people who had similiar disabilities to mine and afterwards, I felt great and this is when Ben Lovell from ATSGUK told me that he was running this camp in Tenerife “The Amp Camp Tenerife”. He told me it would really help me to change my life for the better if I wanted to come to the Amp Camp Tenerife Retreat in June 2021. I was lucky enough for ATSGUK to fund my place on the Amp Camp Tenerife Retreat. At this point, I was scared and nervous because this involved living in a villa for a week with other people other than my family for the first time after my accident. I didn’t know what to expect, but at the Amp Camp Tenerife Retreat I was made to feel so welcome after the first night. I got a feeling on the Amp Camp Retreat that things were really going to get better for me. I was talking to other amputees, learning new things about being an amputee and I was doing exercise and enjoying it. The food was amazing and it could not get any better. I think by the end of the week it felt like I had a new family who were there to lean on for anything I needed in the future. I knew I was going home happier and I felt so much more positive about life. I would like to thank all those at the Amp Camp Retreat, Ben Lovell from ATSGUK, Laura, Rick, Paula, Dan, Mandy, Bailey, Gav, Lisa and Nadine. I’ll never forget the week in Tenerife that showed me life after an amputation can be great and most of all be happy. Thank you so much to Ben Lovell and ATSGUK for funding my place”.

Ms N M

From Tidworth

Back in the summer of 2020 Ms N M worked in an ice coffee shop in Germany and tripped and whilst at work she fell through the glass of the display cabinet. From then on Ms N M had 22 separate operations on her right knee and her right leg and was told that there was nothing the medical team could do for her. So, from that day Ms N M had to rely heavily on crutches and she could not weight bear on her right leg. Some 5 years ago, Ms N M’s health took a turn for the worse and she was then fully restricted to a wheelchair. Because of the lack of movement and blood circulation, Ms N M’s right leg started to die. On 25th September 2020 she had a below the right knee amputation.

In February Ms N M came across a group on Facebook and that was when she first reached out to Ben Lovell from ATSGUK. Ms N M’s has admitted this is the day that changed her life.

Ms N M’s said “a few weeks ago Ben Lovell from ATSGUK spoke to me about Amp Camp Tenerife and asked if I would like to go”.  I agreed to go on the Amp Camp Tenerife tripl and so on the 15th May 2021 I went to Tenerife in a wheelchair and had in the bag my crutches and my prosthetic leg. The night I got to Tenerife Retreat the wheelchair was put  to one side and I mobilsed using my crutches. However, the next morning the volunteers and therapists at Tenerife Retreat all encouraged me to put on my prosthetic leg. They all helped me to do the exercise workouts. For me everyday life activities that seem normal for abled bodied people were so hard for me. The support at the Amp Camp Tenerife Retreat was incredible. Being around other amputees and the help and support with my leg every day was life truely changing. I didn’t use my wheelchair after the first day and I still haven’t since returning home. Amp Camp was amazing and I cannot thank everyone enough for what it has done for me and my family. I even lost 13 pounds and my prosthetic leg no longer fits me. I have to say that the 7 days at the Amp Camp Tenerife Retreat changed my life along with that of my family. I can now look forward to being a mother and a wife again.”

The Amp Camp has been created to better lives not just for those who attend it, but also by creating a domino effect for the family and friends of those that attend.

Our aim is to give the families back their mum, their dad or their partner and we want to change the lives of those affected by an amputation.

Amputees may have lost a limb, but Amp Camp with the support of ATSGUK want to give them back their life

BBC LOOK NORTH – 20/01/2022

AMP CAMP – TENERIFE – VISITOR EXPERIENCE – GUEST 1

AMP CAMP – TENERIFE – VISITOR EXPERIENCE – GUEST 2