The former Eurythmics star pulled out of the commitment due to an "ongoing issue" with her left foot that has left her in terrible pain. Lennox wrote on her Facebook page on Monday: "Sometimes I get searing electrical shocks flashing through the nerve endings. It's the kind of pain that makes you stop in your tracks. I'm sure that some of you know what that's like. It rendered me unfit to travel, so I'm not able to fulfill my performance at the Nansen Refugee Awards tonight, which is hugely disappointing. I'm therefore sending out a rather fragile pink flower as a means of apologies to everyone, once again... Unfortunately it was just one of those bad strokes of luck that you can't do anything about. Thanks to doses of ibuprofen and paracetamol, the situation is a lot better, and the 'flashing' has stopped for now. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!"
Lennox is suffering from foot drop, a painful neurological condition. Foot drop refers to the inability to lift the front part of one's foot off the ground when walking, resulting in a scuffing or dragging of the foot or lifting the thigh, known as steppage gait. It is most often caused by nerve or muscle disorders or damage, or by a central nervous system disorder.
Foot drop is usually diagnosed by physical examination, although additional testing may be required in some cases. Treatment may include braces, physical therapy, and electrical nerve stimulation, and in severe cases, surgery.
Lennox first discovered the symptoms in 2008 and immediately sought professional help, fearing she would never be able to walk again unaided. She writes, "(Four) years ago I found myself in the most extreme pain I've ever experienced. It turned out that I had a dropped foot, caused by my spinal column being impinged by a bulged disc. For the first time in my life, I was facing a real physical handicap, and had no idea whether I'd be able to walk normally again. It took months of physiotherapy to get movement back in my left foot, but gradually... painstakingly... my toes began to move again, to the point where I don't even have a perceivable limp.
"Now the only drawback is that I have a permanently numb left foot, which feels as if it's stuck in a bucket of ice, with constant pins and needles. It's very strange, but somehow I've managed to adapt, and I'm finding that I'm less aware of it than I was before."
Lennox admits that it prompted her to take better care of her feet, after realizing how lucky she was to receive help from doctors and nurses who helped her overcome the ailment.
"The reason I'm blogging about my feet is that I'm grateful for the 57 years of great service they've given me. And if this hadn't happened, I would be coasting along, not realizing what a gift it is to have something I'd taken for granted all my life. Thanks to my neurosurgeon, the nurses and the physiotherapists, I can walk quite decently," concludes Lennox.
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